Show 1430: Uncovering the Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson

In this episode, investigative journalist Gardiner Harris delves into the dark secrets of one of the country’s most admired pharmaceutical firms. Johnson & Johnson sold talcum powder–Johnson’s Baby Powder–for decades even though it contained asbestos, an acknowledged carcinogen. How did the company maintain its superb reputation for so long?

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org).  Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on May 12, 2025.

Dark Secrets:

Johnson’s Baby Powder was as American as apple pie. The company counted on the emotional associations with its baby products. The fragrance of its Baby Powder was linked to feelings of love and security. That was smart marketing.

Continuing to sell a product contaminated with asbestos was something else, though. How did the company deal with this problem? And what did it tell the FDA?

What About Tylenol?

Johnson’s Baby Powder is not the only iconic product the company sells. Tylenol is another famous J&J product. Johnson & Johnson has long promoted this pain reliever as one that hospitals and doctors trust.

Advertising does not feature the fact that the recommended dose and the maximum safe dose of the active ingredient, acetaminophen, are extremely close. As a result, people can inadvertently overdose, especially if they are taking several different types of medicine for symptoms of a cold or the flu, for example. Exceeding the maximum dose of acetaminophen puts a strain on the liver and, over time, may cause liver injury. This is especially worrisome if someone drinks alcohol on a regular basis.

J&J’s response to a crisis in which Tylenol was deliberately adulterated with poison is held up to business students as a case study in doing the right thing. The company pulled millions of bottles off shelves and introduced tamper-proof packaging. This decision bolstered the company’s reputation.

The Dark Secrets of the Opioid Crisis:

Not all of the company’s business decisions are so laudable, and most are not so well-known. Few people are aware that the Johnson & Johnson company developed fentanyl, a potent opioid. It was originally invented by Dr. Paul Janssen, head of Janssen Pharmaceutica. When J&J acquired Janssen, it also acquired the rights to fentanyl, which it sold in a transdermal formulation as Duragesic. According to our guest, the company initially presented it to physicians as a non-addicting pain reliever. You are no doubt aware that is far from the case.

Johnson & Johnson’s Antipsychotic Drugs:

Gardiner Harris points out that Johnson & Johnson was one of the first companies to offer “atypical” antipsychotics such as Risperdal (risperidone). This drug, also developed by Janssen, was originally designed to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia. That market is relatively small, however.

Later, the company started suggesting to doctors that they could prescribe it for elderly dementia patients who were agitated. Like other antipsychotic drugs, though, Risperdal increases the possibility that such patients will die prematurely from heart problems or infection. The FDA has not approved it for treating dementia-related psychosis. In 2013, J&J agreed to pay $2.2 billion in fines for its marketing of Risperdal and two other drugs.

Johnson & Johnson Responds:

A spokesperson for the company responded to our request for comment:

“We stand behind the safety of our products and are focused on what we do best: delivering medical innovation for patients around the world.”

This Week’s Guest:

Gardiner Harris previously served as the public health and pharmaceutical reporter for The New York Times and is now a freelance investigative journalist. He also served as a White House, South Asia, and international diplomacy reporter for the Times. Before that, he was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering the pharmaceutical industry. His investigations there led to what was then the largest fine in the history of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He won the Robert Worth Bingham Prize for investigative journalism and the George Polk Award for environmental reporting after revealing that coal companies deliberately and illegally exposed miners to toxic levels of coal dust. Harris’s novel, Hazard, draws on his experience investigating these conditions. His latest book is No More Tears, the Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson.

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Listen to the Podcast:

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, May 12, 2025, after broadcast on May 10. It contains some additional discussion of the relationships between drug companies and the FDA, specifically with regard to the role of user fees. We also find out about Procrit (EPO) and why it too was a source of controversy. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free, or you can find it on your favorite platform.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.