Chapter 1A Company Is Born
Johnson & Johnson has always been inspired and guided by cutting-edge research.
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Chapters
Fighting Infectious Disease
Discover how Johnson & Johnson has led the field of public health for over 130 years.
In the century before the company was founded, infectious diseases like cholera and smallpox were the leading cause of death worldwide. Before germ theory was developed, scientists proposed competing theories about the causes of disease.
1886
Johnson & Johnson recognized the power of advanced research in germ theory and antiseptic surgery. The company launched just as these critical concepts were beginning to take hold and strived to forward them through educational initiatives and products.
Developing
Germ Theory
1889
The company hired local pharmacist Fred Kilmer as its first scientific director. Over his 45-year career at Johnson & Johnson, he would lead its scientific research and write educational manuals to help advance human health.
1890
Among Kilmer's first and greatest achievements at Johnson & Johnson was pioneering the industrial sterilization process. Originally, factory workers sterilized products by hand. The switch to machine sped up the production of critical medical supplies.
Chapter 2Educating the Public
Johnson & Johnson realized early that public education was as essential as well-designed products in the fight against disease.
1891
To keep people and their homes clean, Johnson & Johnson soon expanded its production beyond surgical supplies to consumer health products. One of its early disinfectants, Johnson's Sulphur Fumigator, used smoke to kill disease-carrying pests in the home.
Fighting Germs at Home
1901
Johnson & Johnson recognized that these new products also required creative marketing. Scientific Director Kilmer oversaw advertising, consumer outreach, and launched public health campaigns—all to teach families how to say healthy and fight disease.
1901
Back at its factories, Johnson & Johnson educated workers and protected them against disease. The company was among the earliest to offer vaccinations to its employees. In 1901, more than 500 company workers were vaccinated against smallpox each day.
Chapter 3 An Arsenal of New Tools
In response to global wars and a pandemic, Johnson & Johnson advanced and supplied critical tools to prevent disease.
1914
During World War I, the U.S. Military relied on Johnson & Johnson's line of sterile products. These were used to treat wounded soldiers and prevent infection from muddy trench warfare, keeping soldiers healthy enough to help fight off infectious diseases.
1918
When the Global Flu Pandemic broke out at the tail end of the war, the company invented a new product to fight it: the epidemic mask. All Americans were encouraged to wear the lifesaving masks, which helped prevent the spread of disease.
1918
The flu was the worst pandemic in recorded human history, claiming upwards of 50 million lives worldwide, including 675,000 Americans. At a time before the flu vaccine was developed, the simple and inexpensive mask was a vital tool in fighting the disease.
1941
When the U.S. entered World War II, its military once again turned to Johnson & Johnson for supplies. To protect soldiers in the South Pacific from insect-borne diseases, the company developed LUMITE Plastic Screen Cloth, a mesh used in tents and huts to keep bugs out.
1950
After the war, many public health innovations first developed by the military were adapted to help civilians. In the next decades, when vaccines and antibiotics became critical tools, Johnson & Johnson would expand into the field of pharmaceutical medicines.
Chapter 4 Expanding the Fight Against Disease
Johnson & Johnson increased its capabilities to fight disease by growing its family of companies and its portfolio of products.
1959
By the mid-20th century, to keep pace with the advancing healthcare field, Johnson & Johnson expanded its business into pharmaceutical medicines. In 1959, the company acquired Cilag Chemie in Switzerland and McNeil Laboratories in the United States.
1961
Johnson & Johnson continued its expansion by acquiring Janssen Pharmaceutica in Belgium. Founded by Dr. Paul Janssen, the research lab's innovative methods transformed the pharmaceutical industry and led to the discovery of many new medicines.
1971
During the late 20th century, Johnson & Johnson further broadened its impact by developing cutting-edge diagnostic test systems to screen for infectious diseases, including HIV and hepatitis A, B, and C, which were just being discovered by scientists.
Chapter 5 Fighting for Healthier Futures
Today, Johnson & Johnson is committed to achieving healthier futures for the world's most vulnerable people.
Infectious diseases remain a deadly force in regions across the world. Johnson & Johnson works to expand global access to its medicines, partners with international organizations to train healthcare workers, and helps educate communities to improve human health.
Johnson & Johnson is also advancing medical research. Through its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, it's developing lifesaving medicines to fight diseases like tuberculosis (TB), HIV, Ebola, and Zika.
One of the most dangerous diseases in the world today is multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). To combat it, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies developed bedaquiline, which is now featured on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
While significant progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, it remains one of the greatest threats to human health. For over 25 years, Johnson & Johnson has been on the forefront of this fight, researching prevention and treatments, and improving access to medication.
When Ebola struck the West African Ivory Coast in 2014, Johnson & Johnson acted fast. It partnered with global research institutions to accelerate clinical testing of a breakthrough vaccine.
For over 130 years, Johnson & Johnson has been dedicated to developing solutions to improve public health. Through its innovative products, educational campaigns, cutting-edge research, and lifesaving medicines, the company is striving to fulfill its mission to fight infectious disease and advance human health.
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Some doctors believed that miasma-toxic air from rotting materials (illustrated here as a ghostly figure)-caused disease.
Others speculated that each person's body was a mix of four humors (fluids): yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm, and an imbalance in humors caused disease.
Even without agreement in the scientific community about the cause of disease, quarantines were a common response to limit their spread. Starting with the Black Death in the 14th century, quarantines were intended to separate the sick. But, when entire areas were deemed infected, sometimes the healthy were sealed in with the ill.
Kilmer was an early public health champion who co-founded the New Brunswick, New Jersey, board of public health and led early efforts to educate the public on infectious disease prevention.
A year before formally joining the company, Kilmer edited this groundbreaking manual on antiseptic surgery. It was published by Johnson & Johnson and distributed to doctors, surgeons, and pharmacists all over the world in an effort to advance sterile operations.
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Distributed to local drug stores, these handbooks were available to the public. Their pages were filled with advice on how to spot symptoms of common diseases, care for the sick, and perform basic first aid.
To promote its popular public health campaign, called "Clean Up Weeks," Johnson & Johnson took out ads in national magazines including Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan. The events encouraged families to clean their houses using company products.
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Heightened wartime demand for sterile medical supplies meant that Johnson & Johnson and its employees worked overtime to meet their quotas.
In an effort to support medical advancements, Johnson & Johnson shared its wartime innovations in the scientific journal, Red Cross Notes, which was distributed to healthcare professionals.
The mask was made from sterile gauze, another Johnson & Johnson product. It was so effective in preventing the flu that it was used in later outbreaks to keep people healthy.
American towns and cities launched educational campaigns and mandatory regulations to limit the flu’s spread. In New York City, business hours were staggered to prevent rush-hour crowding and residents were ordered to stop spitting and cover their coughs.
Katherine Hannan was the first woman employee at Johnson & Johnson to volunteer during the war. Her service brought her to Evacuation Hospital No. 17 in Siberia, where, as its chief nurse, she witnessed the devastation caused by the war and the pandemic.
Although penicillin was first discovered by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928, it was not successfully mass-produced until World War II. Today, penicillin's development remains one of the single-most important breakthroughs in public health.
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"Dr. Paul," as he was known, realized during medical school that chemistry would revolutionize medicine. Guided by this insight, he founded his lab on a shoestring budget at the age of 26. By age 77, he had become the world's most prolific creator of new medicines.
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While TB is preventable and curable with the right medications, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is resistant to the two most common treatments. This made bedaquiline a breakthrough. The medicine has already been used to treat nearly 20,000 patients worldwide.
Not only did the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies developed darunavir, one of the first medicines to treat a resistant form of HIV, it's also developing a vaccine, which will be a vital tool to help end the HIV pandemic.
The 2014 Ebola outbreak was the worst in history, claiming more than 11,300 lives worldwide. Understanding the importance of infectious disease education, Johnson & Johnson supported training programs to teach at-risk communities about basic hygiene and safe ways to care for the sick.
Following extensive research, Johnson & Johnson's Ebola prime-boost vaccine was submitted to the World Health Organization for Emergency Use Assessment and Listing. If and when the next emergency strikes, it can be deployed.