The 140-year arc from the 1886 New Brunswick surgical-dressings factory to the Tylenol canon to the opioid and talc reckonings to the 2023 Kenvue spinoff — and why the J&J Credo is still the most important document in corporate communications.
Johnson & Johnson — the New Jersey healthcare conglomerate. Founded 1886. Completed Kenvue consumer spinoff August 2023. Refocused on Innovative Medicine + MedTech. Sustained talc litigation. CEO Joaquin Duato since 2022.
Johnson and Johnson: the brand that wrote the Tylenol crisis playbook, the company now operating under the Kenvue spinoff and the multi-decade talc liability case. The pharma-primary view.
Bayer is buying certainty. J&J is buying time. Two pharma giants, comparable mass-tort exposure, opposite playbooks — and the contrast is the case study.
