The sales slump endured by the medical industry as the economic crisis hit may be over, according to Johnson & Johnson CEO William Weldon.
That means procedure volumes for elective surgeries could rebound, Weldon told Bloomberg after the company released its financial results for the 4th quarter and 2011.
Johnson & Johnson posted $65.03 billion in sales for 2011, up 5.6%, but earnings sank 27.5% to $9.67 billion, or $3.49 earned per diluted share, a heavy drop from 2010’s $13.33 billion, or $4.78 per diluted share.
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The decline in elective procedures “could be hitting a trough right now,”Weldon told the news service. “People are going to be coming back to the doctor, so we’re going to continue to invest in those areas and hopefully when these patients come back, we’ll be able to capture more” market share.
Weldon also re-iterated
J&J’s stance that its $21.3 billion acquisition of Synthes doesn’t preclude it from inking another big deal.
“If the right opportunity came along, we’d assess it, but I think we’ll digest the Synthes deal right now,” he told Bloomberg. “The strength of J&J is, obviously, we have the financial resources to really assess anything.”
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