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NEW YORK — Johnson & Johnson is shopping its women's health unit, according to a report Friday in The Wall Street Journal, which suggested that the business no longer coincided with J&J's "growth priorities." 

The brands managed by the unit include intimacy health KY and women's personal care brands, o.b. tampons and Stayfree and Carefree pads. 

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson has announced that Alex Gorsky will assume, effective Dec. 28, the chairman title and additional leadership responsibilities for the global health care company. 

Gorsky was appointed CEO of Johnson & Johnson in April 2012. Current chairman Bill Weldon will step down on Dec. 28 and plans to retire in the first quarter of 2013, after a brief transitional period.

SUPPLIER NEWS — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made by Acton Pharmaceuticals for asthma, the company said. The drug maker announced the approval of Aerospan (flunisolide HFA) inhalation aerosol as a maintenance treatment for asthma in patients ages 6 years and older. The drug maker plans to launch the drug in early 2013.

SPRING HOUSE, Pa. — A division of Johnson & Johnson has started a late-stage clinical trial program for a drug for rheumatoid arthritis under a partnership with British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline.

SAN DIEGO — Findings from a new study indicate that more than half of the patients with ulcerative colitis who received subcutaneous injections of a drug used to treat autoimmune disorders responded to the treatment.

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Research and Development announced results of a phase-3 trial of Simponi (golimumab) in ulcerative colitis patients whose condition had previously failed to improve with or who were intolerant to conventional drugs.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson is preparing to turn the corner with its McNeil Consumer Healthcare business, J&J chairman and CEO William Weldon told analysts during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday. That over-the-counter business generated $5.2 billion in the United States for the year ended Jan. 2, representing a 6.7% decline as compared to 2010.

HORSHAM, Pa. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made by Johnson & Johnson for treating ulcerative colitis in children.

J&J subsidiary Janssen Biotech said Friday that the FDA approved Remicade (infliximab) for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis in children who have not responded adequately to conventional therapies.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson on Thursday announced that the company has entered into an agreement to become a global sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, becoming the eighth and final FIFA World Cup sponsor.

With this sponsorship, Johnson & Johnson will be the exclusive and official healthcare sponsor, with the ability to promote across their consumer, medical devices and diagnostics, and pharmaceutical businesses.

BURLINGTON, Mass. The drug market for ulcerative colitis treatments will see modest growth through 2019, according to a new report by Decision Resources.

The research and advisory firm said that the UC drug market will see growth of $800 million, driven by the uptake of Abbott and Eisai's Humira, Centocor Ortho Biotech/Merck/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma/Janssen's Simponi and Millennium's vedolizumab in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Japan.

HORSHAM, Pa. The biotech division of Johnson & Johnson is hoping to expand the use of a treatment for autoimmune disorders.

Centocor Ortho Biotech said it had filed an application with the Food and Drug Administration to get approval for Simponi (golimumab) to stop the progression of structural damage, induce major clinical response, maintain reductions in signs and symptoms, and improve physical function in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

WASHINGTON House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Ed Towns, D-N.Y., on Thursday announced that the committee will hold a hearing Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. to examine the circumstances surrounding Johnson & Johnson’s recall of more than 135 million bottles of infant and children’s medicines produced by Johnson & Johnson/McNeil Consumer Healthcare, including children’s Tylenol, infant’s Tylenol, children’s Motrin and children’s Benadryl.