Latest news with #J&J
The Hindu
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
The Hindu On Books newsletter: Gardiner Harris on J&J's dangerous ways, Vajpayee's biography, Delhi in fiction and more
Welcome to this edition of The Hindu on Books Newsletter. The literary world has lost two writers, including a celebrated poet. Andrea Gibson, who used the pronoun they, explored gender identity, politics and a four-year battle with terminal ovarian cancer through verse. In Memoriam The 49-year-old starred in a documentary, 'Come See Me in the Good Light', with their wife Megan Falley which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival amid cheers and tears. In a poem Gibson wrote shortly before they died, titled 'Love Letter from the Afterlife,' they wrote: 'Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before.' Mystery writer Martin Cruz Smith, who wrote thrillers like Gorky Park and Hotel Ukraine, the 11th and latest in the series featuring the Moscow investigator Arkady Renko, has passed away at age 82. In its obituary, AP quoted from an interview Smith gave to 'Strand Magazine' in 2023: 'My longevity is linked to Arkady's. As long as he remains intelligent, humorous, and romantic, so shall I.' The fictional Arkady was given the same condition like the writer's – Parkinson's disease. Publisher Simon&Schuster penned a moving tribute saying, Smith's books are one of the great achievements in modern suspense writing. In reviews this week, we learn more about Gardiner Harris' takedown of one of America's most loved companies, Johnson&Johnson, and its dark and dangerous secrets, we read an excerpt from the second and last part of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's biography, and several books with Delhi at the centre and more. Books of the week The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson (Ebury Press) is a hard hitting expose on what went on at J&J, the pharma major. It uncovers the secrets across the company's drugs and products from baby powder, Tylenol, Risperdal (antipsychotic), EPO (a cancer drug), metal-on-metal hip implants, among others, which adversely impacted the health of users. Chillingly, the company continued to market them, fully cognisant of the harmful effects. In a conversation with Ramya Kannan, Harris, an investigative reporter, describes the Herculean task he took on, and what he was up against. Asked among all the violations, what he thought was the most egregious, he said: 'J&J, early on, would find out that its product was dangerous, and would hide those dangers not only from the public, but from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and other regulatory agencies, knowing that it could result in a number of deaths. I estimate that at least 2 million Americans alone died from using J&J products. So it really is hard to rank order. But the worst of the worst, just in terms of sheer numbers, would probably be Risperdal. Epidemiological analysis shows that it is probably one of the most deadly drugs that has ever been sold in the U.S. It is sold to children, even though it causes boys to grow breasts and young girls to express milk. And again, the company hid those risks, lied about them in publications.' The second volume of a two-part biography, Believer's Dilemma (Picador India) begins with a watershed moment when India voted in its first non-Congress government at the Centre in 1977. The Sangh Parivar was in the coalition, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee got the post of External Affairs Minister. Two years later, when the coalition collapsed, Vajpayee 'publicly apportioned some of the blame to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,' whose ideology he believed in. After a stint in government, 'the believer now had dilemmas,' writes Abhishek Chaudhary, and Vajpayee's relationship with the Sangh Parivar would 'remain a convoluted affair till the very end.' Read an excerpt. Is Delhi the 'Valhalla of hucksters, the nourishing nucleus of the confidence trick that is Indian democracy?' Ranbir Sidhu's new novel Night in Delhi (Context) is set in Delhi where almost everybody is out to scam somebody. The novel's unnamed protagonist is a minor crook and thief. As Aditya Mani Jha writes in his review, all the happenings are a window into the city's invisible gears and mechanisms, the covert economies that keep the whole thing together on a wing and a prayer. 'Sidhu's gaze is unflinching, shorn of sentiment, intent on grabbing the reader by the scruff of the neck, making them look at things they would have otherwise turned their gaze away from,' he points out. Spotlight Radhika Oberoi (Stillborn Season, Of Mothers and Other Perishables) writes an essay on Delhi in fiction, foregrounding old and new titles including Arundhati Roy's 2017 novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. She mentions a new anthology, Basti & Durbar: Delhi-New Delhi: A City in Stories (Speaking Tiger), edited by Rakhshanda Jalil, and says it is a soulful exposition of the many Delhis that exist, simultaneously, or piled upon the ruins of erstwhile Delhis. 'In the introduction, Jalil poses a few questions: 'Is the city central, or peripheral, to the writer's concerns? Can the 'spirit' of Delhi, the sum total of its disparate and disarming parts, ever really be captured in words?'' Delhi, says Oberoi, is a sensual city, a resilient city, a city of whores, eunuchs, and coiffed rummy players at the Gymkhana Club. 'And because it is unloved by those who live in its neighbourhoods and study at its universities, it becomes the stuff of literature.' Browser The New Geography of Innovation (HarperCollins) by Mehran Gul asks whether the geography of innovation is shifting from the U.S., the source of just about all the technologies that define modern life, from computers to social networks and electric cars. He looks to places like Taiwan (which has the world's most important semiconductor company, TSMC), and other places in Asia, Sweden (Spotify), Nordic countries (known for best-known games like Candy Crush and Angry Birds) and so forth. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Matt Richtel's new book, How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence, is based on years of investigative reporting for the New York Times, and offers a look at the modern adolescent experience—from rising anxiety and early puberty to how the digital world collides with a still-developing brain. If you liked the television series 'Adolescence' on Netflix which held a mirror to youth and society, this book is revelatory. Amrita Mahale's new novel, Real Life (Hamish Hamilton), is a mystery set around the disappearance of wildlife biologist Tara from the Mahamaya Valley in the Himalayas. As Tara's best friend Mansi tries to find out what happened, she is drawn into the mysteries of the Valley, the clash between technology and nature, and where a woman's voice can be silenced in many ways. Rudraneil Sengupta's The Beast Within (Context) is an effective police procedural, a rare breed in the country's bookscape. The reviewer, Sumana Mukherjee, writes that Sengupta delves into the many layers that comprise policing in India. His weary and damaged Inspector Prashant Kumar is a credible protagonist who works the many planes of the National Capital Region's realities without either diminishing inequities or ignoring power structures.
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Business Standard
a day ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: India's race with reforms, reality, and risks
We've all watched those nail-biting Olympic relay races — where one fumbled handoff, one split-second hesitation, can undo a team's entire rhythm. There's something profoundly frustrating about that race where everyone runs their stretch with gusto but the baton keeps slipping between handovers. The track is well-laid, the runners well-trained, the goal clear. Yet, without a clean pass, all that effort unravels because no matter how fast the sprinters are, it's the baton pass that decides victory. Today's editorials and columns draw our attention to something similar — everyone sprinting, but few managing a smooth exchange. Let's dive in. Take the Centre's renewed urgency to reform the Goods and Services Tax system. It's been eight years since GST was introduced, and it was meant to be the ultimate baton pass — unifying the nation under one tax regime. Now, with Amit Shah reportedly entering the fray and the Prime Minister's Office giving the green light for structural overhaul, rate slab simplification and compliance easing are back on the agenda. But, as our first editorial cautions, unless these proposals are handed down with precision and not fumbled through political hesitation or procedural hurdles, the finish line will keep drifting. Agriculture, too, is in transition mode. The new PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, as our second editorial notes, marks a shift from blanket subsidies to district-level problem-solving. Yet, stitching together 36 schemes across 11 departments while tracking 117 performance metrics is no small feat. And if climate adaptation isn't baked in from the start, and bureaucratic bulk isn't streamlined, the baton risks falling before the first lap is done. Globally, Nitin Desai warns that a faltering America is no longer the dependable lead runner in the global relay. To avoid a collapse in multilateral cooperation, he advocates forming 'coalitions of the willing' on agriculture and climate — groups that can bypass Washington's gridlock. These coalitions won't rewrite the rules, but they can keep the baton in play while the superpowers stumble. And Ranjan Mathai's column on India's rare earths dilemma is a study in potential lost to poor handovers. Despite having the world's third-largest reserves, India's production chain is stuck at the starting block. China, meanwhile, controls the full mine-to-magnet relay. Without cleaner mining models, tech investment, and faster regulatory clearances, India's baton will stay grounded. Finally, in The Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, Prosenjit Datta reviews Kaunain Sheriff M's harrowing exposé of how J&J knowingly delayed recalling faulty hip implants in India. Patients suffered while the firm minimised compensation and regulators hesitated. It's a brutal reminder: when the baton is dropped in healthcare, lives — not medals — are lost. Stay tuned!
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Betting Big on Cancer: 3 Oncology Stocks Set to Surge in 2025
An updated edition of the June 10, 2025, article. The global cancer treatment market is experiencing rapid growth, driven by rising cancer incidence, aging population and increasing demand for safer, more effective therapies. Per the American Cancer Society, in the United States alone, over 2 million new cancer cases and 618,000 related deaths are projected for 2025. Breakthroughs in immunotherapy, targeted treatments, and personalized cancer vaccines are reshaping the oncology landscape. These next-generation therapies offer greater precision and improved outcomes, supporting strong market expansion. Major pharma companies — including Novartis NVS, AstraZeneca AZN, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, Pfizer PFE, AbbVie ABBV, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly LLY — are investing heavily in cutting-edge approaches like antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and immuno-oncology agents. Meanwhile, smaller biotechs are driving innovation, making them attractive acquisition targets for larger players seeking to enhance their oncology pipelines. As scientific progress accelerates, the oncology market is poised for robust, long-term growth — offering compelling opportunities for investors. These factors highlight the huge potential of cancer-focused companies. With our thematic screens, you can easily spot stocks tied to trends shaping the future of investing. If the cancer space appeals to you and you're looking to align your portfolio with this rising trend, now might be the time to consider stocks like J&J, Novartis and Allogene Therapeutics ALLO 3 Cancer Stocks in Focus J&J's Oncology segment comprises around 27% of its total revenues. Its oncology sales rose 22.3% on an operational basis in the second quarter of 2025 to $6.3 billion, driven by strong market growth and share gains of key products such as multiple myeloma treatment Darzalex and prostate cancer drug, Erleada. New cancer drugs, such as Carvykti, Tecvayli, Talvey and Rybrevant plus Lazcluze, contributed significantly to growth as they witnessed strong launches. On its second-quarter conference call, J&J stated that it expects its oncology sales to reach $50 billion by the end of the decade. J&J seems quite confident in the target, citing strong growth in its marketed cancer drugs and the potential of upcoming launches like TAR-200 in bladder cancer and the subcutaneous formulation of Rybrevant plus Lazcluze for advanced EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). TAR-200 is under priority review with the FDA for treating non-muscle invasive bladder cancer and is expected to be approved this year. The subcutaneous formulation of Rybrevant plus Lazcluze has been recommended for approval in the EU while it is under review in the United States. J&J's oncology pipeline has gained strong momentum in the last year and a half, with promising developments in colorectal and head and neck cancers. In this period, J&J had eight proof-of-concept readouts, which led the candidates to move to late-stage pivotal studies across the portfolio. J&J has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Novartis has a diverse oncology portfolio, including targeted therapies and immunotherapies. The FDA's approval of Kisqali, its CDK4/6 inhibitor for the first-line treatment of postmenopausal women with HR+/HER2 advanced or metastatic breast cancer, significantly boosted the company's oncology portfolio, with the drug now being one of the top growth drivers for the company. In particular, Kisqali has shown robust uptake in the metastatic breast cancer setting. The recent approval of a broader label for Kisqali in the United States and the EU should further fuel its sales. Kisqali recorded sales of $1.1 billion in the second quarter of 2025, up 64% year over year. Other new oncology drugs like Pluvicto (PSMA-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer) and Scemblix (chronic myeloid leukemia) also put up a stellar performance, setting the momentum for the coming years as well. Novartis' oncology sales rose 20% in constant currency terms to $4.3 billion in the second quarter of 2025. In 2024, Novartis acquired Mariana Oncology and Germany-based MorphoSys AG, which strengthened its oncology pipeline. This Zacks Rank #2 company is also investing in research to develop treatments for both common and rare cancers, focusing on precision medicine strategies. Allogene Therapeutics is focused on developing allogeneic CAR T therapies for treating cancer, especially hematologic indications with high unmet needs. This Zacks Rank #2 company has multiple pipeline candidates in the clinical stage of development, including CAR T cell product candidates — cemacabtagene ansegedleucel (cema-cel or formerly ALLO-501A) and ALLO-316 for cancer indications. Lead candidate, cema-cel, is being developed as a frontline treatment for patients with large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL). In this regard, the company has initiated the pivotal phase II ALPHA3 study to evaluate cema-cel in patients with first-line LBCL. ALLO-316, the company's first CAR T candidate for solid tumors, is being evaluated in the TRAVERSE study in adults with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Data from the study has shown that the therapy-induced early anti-tumor activity with deepening responses over time, especially in heavily pre-treated patients with high CD70 expression. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Novartis AG (NVS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) : Free Stock Analysis Report Pfizer Inc. (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) : Free Stock Analysis Report AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) : Free Stock Analysis Report Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (ALLO) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Health
- Business Standard
The Johnson & Johnson Files: Unhealthy truths and defective hip implants
A tale of defective hip implants exposes India's weak medical oversight - and how multinationals treat Indian patients worse than those in rich countries premium Prosenjit Datta Listen to This Article The Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant by Kaunain Sheriff M. Published by Juggernaut 379 pages ₹599 In 1998, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) — known for everything from band aids to baby powder — took over DePuy for a whopping $3.5 billion dollars. DePuy Inc, a Warsaw-based company, was one of the largest and most respectable names in hip and knee implants in the world. It was the second-largest player in these areas in the US market and had a presence in 23 countries, including India. It was a great buy — within just over a decade, it became
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
J&J accelerates past Stelara's fall with better-than-expected portfolio growth
This story was originally published on PharmaVoice. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily PharmaVoice newsletter. Johnson & Johnson came out of the gates with a strong showing in second-quarter earnings yesterday despite a major headwind from the loss of exclusivity for immunology blockbuster Stelara. How did the pharma giant stay on the upswing? By pumping up newer meds and leaning on strengths in oncology and neuroscience. All in all, the company's pharmaceutical quarterly sales rose 4.9% worldwide to more than $15 billion. J&J CEO Joaquin Duato said on the company's earnings call that executive vice president and worldwide chairman of J&J Innovative Medicine Jennifer Taubert deserved a shoutout for raking in record pharma sales while Stelara's revenue fell like a stone. 'Credit to [Taubert] and her team achieving the first $15 billion quarter despite $1.2 billion of year-on-year erosion in the quarter from Stelara. I don't think any other company can do that.' Joaquin Duato CEO, J&J Here's what executives said about the challenges and opportunities in J&J's top three therapeutic areas, and how the company weathered the storm of a major patent cliff — pointing to ways its Big Pharma brethren can overcome their own headwinds in the years to come. Saving immunology Stelara has been a breadwinner for J&J for more than a decade, bringing in peak sales of almost $11 billion in 2023. Then the biosimilars started to arrive, first in Europe in 2024, and then in the U.S. this year. That brought about a $1.2 billion sales drop in the second quarter of 2025 from the same period the year before. But the company is riding a wave of newer immunology drugs that, while not yet making up for all of Stelara's losses, have kept the therapeutic area poised for future growth. 'It's hard to pick one particular product that gives us reason for our enthusiasm in the back half … but if I had to point … I would say Tremfya.' Joseph Wolk CFO, J&J Tremfya's sales have been growing steadily and recently expanded into inflammatory bowel disease, which contributed to 30% growth in the quarter, along with indications in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. CFO Joe Wolk said Stelara had 70% of prescriptions filled with IBD, making that indication a particularly enticing chunk of the market. On the call, Duato pointed to a peak sales estimate of $10 billion annually for Tremfya, which would bring it in line with Stelara's performance at the end of its exclusive lifecycle. Add that to the double-digit growth of marketed immunology products Remicade and the Simponi franchise, as well as a pipeline shaping up to make a splash in years to come, and the overall 16% decline in sales for immunology looks like it will become a short-lived slump in the long run. No.1 in oncology? Duato made big promises for J&J's growing prowess in oncology beyond what analysts have predicted. 'With more than 10 products in market across 26 approved indications and over 25 treatments in late-stage development, we expect to become the No. 1 oncology company by 2030 with sales of more than $50 billion.' Joaquin Duato CEO, J&J The company saw 22% growth in oncology overall in the second quarter, with particular contributions from the multiple myeloma drug Darzalex and the prostate cancer treatment Erleada. Also performing well was the CAR-T cell therapy Carvykti, overcoming obstacles in the space with $439 million in sales for the quarter. Taubert also said the bladder cancer pipeline candidate TAR-200 is undervalued by analysts and has been designed to fit into urologists' routine clinical practice in a way that could make its 2028 numbers reach 'at least three times higher' than what industry watchers have estimated. '[TAR-200] is probably the asset that has the biggest disconnect between our internal forecasts and what the Street expects.' Jennifer Taubert EVP, worldwide chairman, J&J Innovative Medicine Neuroscience on the rise The ketamine-based depression drug Spravato has turned out to be a winner for J&J with more than 50% growth on the market to $414 million in sales in the first quarter. While execs celebrated the win, they're also looking forward to what schizophrenia and bipolar depression newcomer Caplyta has in store. J&J picked up Caplyta in the acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies that closed earlier this year for $14.6 billion. 'Caplyta adds to J&J's robust lineup of therapies with $5 billion-plus potential in peak year sales, and further solidifies sales growth above analyst expectations through the rest of the decade.' Joaquin Duato CEO, J&J Overall, neuroscience grew almost 15% for J&J, bringing in more than $2 billion in the second quarter. Recommended Reading J&J's 2024 strategy will focus on newer meds to offset Stelara's patent cliff Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
