Johnson & Johnson CEO: America’s innovation advantage starts with health

Over the past century, American innovation has transformed healthcare, turning once-unimaginable ideas into lifesaving realities for patients around the world. As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, that legacy is not slowing down. After decades working at the intersection of science, manufacturing, and patient care, I see every day that America’s capacity for innovation is not fading. It is gaining momentum. What sets the United States apart is not invention alone. It is our ability to translate discovery into real-world impact. Today the United States leads the world in biopharmaceutical innovation, with American companies driving 55% of global R&D and producing more new medicines than any other country. That leadership translates directly to patients, with roughly 70% of new medicines launching first in the U.S., giving Americans access to breakthrough treatments months, often years, ahead of other countries. We are entering an era where breakthroughs move faster from lab to patient. Diseases are detected earlier. Treatments are tailored more precisely. High-quality care is reaching more people. Progress is no longer defined only by what we discover, but by how early and effectively we put those discoveries to work. And that progress is already changing lives. In cardiovascular care, American innovation is giving critically ill patients meaningful additional time – time to recover, to return home, to lead fuller lives. In cancer, innovation has fundamentally changed the outlook. Diseases once considered fatal are increasingly manageable, and in some cases potentially curable, as science turns the body’s own biology into a powerful tool against disease. Artificial intelligence is accelerating this progress, and the U.S. leads here, too. It is transforming how our scientists discover medicines, design clinical trials, and match therapies to the patients most likely to benefit. Research timelines that once spanned decades are being compressed i