Johnson and Johnson 2005 Annual Report Download - page 6

SPLENDA®Brand Sweetener is the cornerstone of our
growing nutritionals category. Many people looking to
reduce sugar intake, like those managing their weight or
dealing with conditions like diabetes, find the no-calorie
sweetener helpful.
TYLENOL®
, one of our most venerated brands, has kept
its vitality through offerings like TYLENOL®Rapid-Release
Gels, a fast-acting formulation of a proven product.
Over time, there have been more than 75 launches in the
TYLENOL®line, a testament to our capacity to innovate
and continuously improve iconic brands.
Looking to the future, we are excited about the range
of opportunities across our enterprise to use science and
technology to advance care and grow our business. At
the same time, we are mindful of the challenges we must
successfully address, some specific to our Company and
some endemic to our industry. For example, during the
balance of the decade, we will face patent expirations
on our anti-psychotic RISPERDAL®and TOPAMAX®for
the treatment of epilepsy and migraine prevention.
Additionally, across all of our businesses, efforts by
both public and private payors to reduce health care costs
will continue to increase pricing pressures on our products.
We think the best way to address these challenges is by
controlling costs and, perhaps even more importantly,
by providing innovative products that meet important
needs and are accompanied by clear evidence of both
clinical and economic value.
We also recognize that such pressures are not unique
to us but are affecting the global health care industry. As
such, we have a responsibility to help shape the future of
the health care landscape. Our perspectives on health policy
are straightforward: We are champions of a health care
system that provides incentives for innovation, that permits
public and private health care systems to co-exist, that
is characterized by strong and well-respected regulatory
authorities, that is centered around the best interests of
patients and consumers, that provides for physician and
patient choice, and that allows these choices to be made
on the basis of broadly available, well-founded, clinical
and economic evidence. We have a responsibility to work
with policymakers to further ensure access to care.
We are fortunate to be guided in these and other
efforts by an outstanding Board of Directors. In 2005,
we welcomed Michael Johns, M.D., Executive Vice
President for Health Affairs, Chief Executive Officer of the
Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center and Chairman
of Emory Healthcare at Emory University, to our Board,
where he is a member of the Compensation & Benefits
Committee and the Science & Technology Advisory
Committee. Last month, Charles Prince, Chief Executive
Officer, Citigroup Inc., was also elected to the Board.
Mr. Prince serves in a number of leading business
organizations, including The Business Council and The
Business Roundtable, and will be a strong addition to
our Board.
We are committed to making a meaningful contribution
to the advancement of health care. Our capacity to succeed
and to face into the challenges of the decade are enabled
by the men and women of Johnson & Johnson around the
world who are dedicated to this noble cause. Through their
work and the leadership of our management and directors,
we are in a good position to capitalize on the high and
growing demand for products that meet serious unmet
medical and personal needs. Across all our businesses,
the leadership of Johnson & Johnson is looking into the
future with a clear understanding of the challenges, and
with excitement about the extraordinary opportunities
that exist to improve the quality of peoples’ lives around
the world.
William C. Weldon
Chairman, Board of Directors,
and Chief Executive Officer
March 15, 2006
PAGE 4 TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS
(1)Excludes in-process research and development and a tax gain associated
with a technical correction made to the American Jobs Creation Act of
2004 related to the repatriation of undistributed international earnings.
See Reconciliation of Non-GAAP measures, page 67.