MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Does J&J CEO Weldon earn his keep? Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shareholders approved the company’s executive-compensation policy yesterday, but not without objections from some over the company’s numerous recent product recalls, The Wall Street Journal reported.
At a meeting held yesterday in a hotel near the company’s New Jersey headquarters, shareholders openly questioned CEO William Weldon’s $28.7 million pay package given the company’s series of manufacturing issues that lead to safety-related recalls, the newspaper reported.
Others questioned Weldon’s compensation after a year in which J&J’s share price dropped 4 percent, which many account to the string of damaging news.
Weldon said he was personally overseeing efforts to improve the quality manufacturing of over-the-counter medicines such as Tylenol, the WSJ reported. The company also made a 45 percent cut in Weldon’s 2010 performance bonus reduced his overall pay package, according to the publication.
Recalls have lately became an unwelcome habit for Johnson & Johnson. In March two recall actions surfaced for medical device unit Ethicon, and J&J’s Animas subsidiary pulled nearly 400,000 potentially leaky insulin cartridges. In February, Ethicon issued a recall of 700,000 units of a liquid wound sealant and a hernia-treatment device, a day after pulling 70,000 syringes pre-filled with Invega Sustenna, an anti-psychotic drug, due to possible cracks. J&J also suffered a welter of recalls for its over-the-counter medicine operation and its DePuy ASR hip implant, giving its bottom line a bruising in the last quarter of 2010.
J&J has a big opportunity to improve its public image if all goes well with its plan to acquire Swiss orthopedics maker Synthes (SWX:SYST.VX). The buyout, which was announced this week, could be the makeover that the company’s orthopedics business needs to bounce back. Wall Street, however, has so far been unimpressed.
Medicare chief criticizes Ryan budget plan. President Obama’s pick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Serices (CMS) said Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) plan for Medicare would shift costs to seniors and people with disabilities. In an op-ed published in the WSJ, CMS administrator Don Berwick wrote that the Ryan plan, "would end Medicare as we know it and do nothing to bring down health-care costs. It would shift the cost of health care to seniors and Americans with disabilities. This is the wrong way."
Rep. Ryan himself met his most vocal opposition to his budget plan yesterday in his own town hall meeting, according to Politico.
Surveyed insurance agent claim health care reform "devastating." The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has had a "devastating" effect on insurance agents and brokers, according to a new survey from the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisers. The trade group said 75 percent of its membership has had a drop in commissions since the health reform law placed limits on the amount of money that insurers can spend on administrative expenses and profits, reports The Hill.
Study: Bariatric surgery benefits go beyond weight loss. Obesity’s link to diabetes is well documented and it comes as no surprise that bariatric surgery helps, but new research from Duke and Columbia universities finds that the weight loss surgery works in a way that is quite unexpected. Results of a study published in Science Translational Medicine show that the surgery results in a reduction of amino acids in the blood, specifically branched-chain amino acids. While these amino acids are essential for humans, the study results suggest that reducing their concentration in the blood could be related to improvement in blood sugar regulation, writes MedCity News.
Can video games battle obesity? Researchers at a summit co-hosted by the American Heart Association (AHA) and video game consul-maker Nintendo are optimistic that video games can be redirected into a force for cardiovascular health — despite their reputation for causing the opposite. "Active games" are getting positive reviews from cardiologists, but, at some point, the dollars behind the partnership might call for an emphasis on transparency, writes HeatWire.
