No more tears The dark secrets of Johnson & Johnson

Harris conducts consummate investigative journalism in this gangbuster exposé of the Johnson & Johnson corporation. Reaching back to its origins with the Johnson brothers in the post--Civil War era, he takes readers on a dark and devastating ride through a corporate pattern of greed and malfeasance that becomes more disturbing with each revelatory chapter. From the dangers of asbestos in Johnson's baby powder to acetaminophen overdosing from extra-strength Tylenol and the damage and death from the push to prescribe antipsychotics to children and tumor enhancing(!) drugs to cancer patients, at every turn a cavalcade of executives and managers have embraced the opportunity to make money regardless of the consequences. Comparisons to Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain (2021) are obvious, although Harris' work is all the more stunning as Johnson & Johnson has held an enviable and unmatched degree of trust in America for decades. It is very nearly impossible to believe that this company could be capable of so many layers of deceit and dishonesty, yet that is exactly what Harris lays bare in this masterfully researched title with a narrative akin to a thriller in its intensity. An absolutely unforgettable must-read.

This hard-hitting exposé from journalist Harris (Hazard) documents scandals and malfeasance by the pharmaceutical conglomerate Johnson and Johnson. He details how for decades, the company squashed negative stories about its baby powder, which contained traces of asbestos that increased users' risk of contracting ovarian cancer, by "threatening media outlets with financial ruin" until a 2015 lawsuit forced the company to pay $2.1 billion in damages. Other misdeeds included marketing its blood thickener ProCrit to anemic cancer patients while hiding data that showed the drug promoted tumor growth; concealing evidence that its metal Pinnacle hip-replacement implants had failure rates many times higher than its plastic competitors and poisoned patients with metal ions; and botching its one-shot Covid vaccine, which conferred weak protection against the virus and was banned in 2024 for causing fatal blood clots. Harris paints the company as an exemplar of the healthcare industry's corruption, contending that it routinely lied to a toothless Food and Drug Administration and effectively paid doctors to prescribe its drugs under the auspices of enlisting their patients in bogus scientific studies. Harris supports his takedown with a mountain of evidence and conveys his findings in scorching prose. The result is a masterpiece of muckraking. Agent: Gail Ross, WME. (Apr.)