Episode summary
J&J CEO Joaquin Duato on Obesity, Cancer and AI | The David Rubenstein Show
The David Rubenstein Show
· · Hosts: David Rubenstein · Guests: Joaquin Duato
Summary
Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato argued that the company’s long-term identity is now centered on pharmaceuticals and medical devices, not consumer products. He said the spinout of the consumer division was meant to refocus J&J on medical innovation in difficult areas such as oncology, cardiovascular disease and dementia, and he pointed to the company’s scale in cancer care, including multiple myeloma, lung cancer and robotic surgery.
Duato said J&J is deliberately staying out of GLP-1 obesity drugs because it is concentrating on other major unmet needs. He emphasized prevention, broader health coverage and affordability, arguing that the U.S. can do better on primary care and that lower drug costs will require changes such as reducing middlemen and having other developed countries pay more of the research bill.
He also said artificial intelligence should accelerate drug discovery and make medical devices smarter, and that J&J is training employees and investing in AI across operations. Looking ahead, Duato framed dementia and cancer as the biggest challenges and said J&J aims to be number one in cancer by 2030 while continuing to balance internal research with outside innovation.
Key takeaways
- Joaquin Duato said Johnson & Johnson will not enter the GLP-1 obesity market, because it is focused instead on cancer, dementia and other unmet needs.
- Duato said J&J’s goal is to be number one in cancer by 2030, with work spanning multiple myeloma, lung cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and kidney cancer.
- He said artificial intelligence is a force multiplier for J&J, speeding drug discovery and making medical devices smarter.
- Duato said J&J wants a 50/50 mix of internal and external innovation, because some of the best science comes from outside the company.
- He argued that better prevention, more primary care, and broader health coverage would improve U.S. health outcomes and support affordability.
Notable quotes
“We wanted to be more focus on medical innovation and the consumer business has departed from medical innovation”
“But no, we are not going to be in the GLP one area”
“I think that we could do better as a country in prevention”
“AI is going to accelerate discovery of new medicines. AI is going to make medical devices smarter, be able to navigate the body better”
“Our goal is to be number one by 2030, perhaps is the best sign of where the company is heading”
How the episode opens
How's your week then? Nope. Nothing good happened yet.
Was your birthday this week? I don't count those. That's a bad example.
The best part about being an interview is you get to meet a lot of interesting people. Very often, you have a chance to meet people you wouldn't otherwise get to meet and to see what makes them tick. I didn't really see myself as an interviewer initially.
It's very interesting to me is finding out why certain people who became leaders became leaders. How did they rise up from nowhere but somewhere? By revenue.
The biggest health care company in the world is Johnson and Johnson. But Johnson and Johnson no longer sells Band-Aids. It's sold off its consumer product division.
Now it focuses on pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The man responsible for that transformation of Johnson and Johnson is Joaquin Toto. I had a chance to sit down with him and ask him why he made this transformation.
When I was preparing for this, I did some research and I was disappointed to learn that the Band-Aids I've been using all these years are no longer owned by Johnson Johnson. What happened to the Band-Aids? I mean, I thought Band-Aids were Johnson and Johnson.
So it's not only you. I think many retirees of the company are sending me. Maybe you got to be in that same feeling.
Um, and many of them work in our consumer sector, and, um, and now even today, when I tell people I'm the CEO of Johnson and Johnson, they tell me the baby shampoo come, they come back, okay? All the time. All the time.
You became the CEO. And then within a year or two of that, you spun out your entire consumer division, all the kind of products that I'm the one that I buy those things at the drugstore and all those things you got rid of.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- glp-1 obesity strategy
- oncology and cancer
- ai in drug discovery
- dementia
- healthcare innovation and access
Companies and tickers mentioned
- JNJ
- Johnson & Johnson
Watch the episode
Watch “J&J CEO Joaquin Duato on Obesity, Cancer and AI | The David Rubenstein Show” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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