ARTICLE SUMMARY:
At one of this year’s Stanford Biodesign Innovator’s Workbench programs, Ashley McEvoy, head of J&J’s MedTech business, talked about the current state of the company’s medical device businesses, the impact of the COVID pandemic, and what the future holds for J&J MedTech.
It goes to the very essence of Johnson & Johnson that while the company was one of those that benefited—if that’s an appropriate term—from a COVID pandemic that has rocked the world for the past two-plus years, as a result of its role in the development of a COVID vaccine, it’s medical device business, like every other medtech company, saw a dramatic downturn as the pandemic filled hospital beds and all but cancelled elective procedures at hospitals over-stressed by a pandemic that has seemed relentless.
It is, in fact, one of the strengths of Johnson & Johnson as one of the few remaining healthcare product companies with a major foothold in both pharmaceuticals and medical devices, that when one part of its business faces difficult times, other parts can, in a way, compensate. Thus, over the past two years, while the medical device business has felt the brunt of the pandemic in the form of fewer in-hospital procedures, the pharma side of the business has rallied from a mid-200s slump and been a leader in vaccine development.
That’s some solace for Ashley McEvoy, who, asEVP and Worldwide Chairman of Johnson & Johnson MedTech,has had the responsibility for managing the MedTech business through the pandemic, overseeing some of the industry’s most powerful brands, including Ethicon and DePuy.
