Earlier today, senior leaders from our Medical Devices & Diagnostics segment (which, BTW, is the the company’s largest business segment) held a meeting with the investment community to highlight the new products, pipelines, geographic presence and other strategies that will sustain the long-term growth of this business. You can listen to a replay of the webcast on our website, but below are a few of the tweets I put out earlier today:

J&J holds analyst meeting highlighting growth strategies for its Medical Devices and Diagnostics (MD&D) segment http://bit.ly/cdY11k

Webcast of presentations for J&J MD&D analyst meeting on J&J website http://bit.ly/gNVaT

MD&D day will highlight new products, including blood glucose monitoring/hernia repair systems, disposable contacts http://bit.ly/agrGrp

Gorsky, WW Chair, MD&D segment: can grow in underpenetrated mrkts thru intro of more advanced products/organic growth http://bit.ly/agrGrp

MD&D received more than 12 reg approvals so far in ’10, plans to make about 80 significant submissions between ’10-’12 http://bit.ly/agrGrp

MD&D segment continues to globalize current portfolios by developing more localized products for different markets http://bit.ly/agrGrp

Today Colleen Goggins, Worldwide Chairman, Consumer Group, Johnson & Johnson, is appearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to discuss the recent McNeil recall of certain infants’ and children’s products. Here are some excerpts from her testimony:

All of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies realize that we have a responsibility to provide consumers with the highest quality products possible, and we have worked hard to fulfill that responsibility for more than a century. We are proud that our products help millions of people around the world improve their health and well-being. Across our organization, we believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses, and patients, to mothers and fathers, and all others who use our products and services. In this instance, we have not lived up to that responsibility, and the recall is therefore a disappointment to our Chairman Bill Weldon, to me personally, and to the thousands of employees in the Johnson & Johnson family of companies.

The quality and process issues that we found at McNeil, those which led to the recall and others, are unacceptable. On behalf of McNeil and Johnson & Johnson, I apologize to the mothers, fathers, and caregivers for the concern and inconvenience caused by the recall. Johnson & Johnson embraces the work of this Committee, and we hope that today’s hearing will be an important step in furthering public understanding of the recall.

Consistent with our goal of furthering public understanding, it is critical that the public understand that the recall was not undertaken on the basis of adverse medical events. Unfortunately, there has been some confusion in the media with respect to this recall. I would like to stress, therefore, four key points. First, as the FDA noted last month, the health risks to consumers from the recalled products were remote. Second, McNeil has no indication of a serious adverse medical event caused by any of the issues referenced in the recall announcement. Third, no raw materials that tested positive for objectionable bacteria were ever used in the manufacture of McNeil’s pediatric products. And finally, McNeil rejected the products that it found had excess active ingredient.

For further details, click here to read the full testimony.

To help inform employees of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, McNeil Consumer Healthcare today released a description of its plans to assess and address quality issues which precipitated the recent recall of certain McNeil infants’ and children’s liquid medicines and the suspension of production at the Fort Washington PA manufacturing facility on April 30. Last Friday, McNeil submitted materials to the U. S. Food & Drug Administration which outlined its actions and plans to help ensure quality moving forward, and address the FDA’s observations at the plant. And this Thursday, Colleen Goggins, Worldwide Chairman, Consumer Group will represent Johnson & Johnson before the U. S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has called a hearing on the recall. The following is the description of McNeil’s plans:

McNeil is taking steps to bring its operation back to a level of quality that Johnson & Johnson demands of its companies, and that the public rightly expects of us, and that we expect of ourselves.

First, even before the most recent recall was announced, McNeil retained an independent third-party expert to assist the Fort Washington facility in identifying immediate, interim, and long-term corrective actions that it needs to take. The third-party expert is a pharmaceutical consulting firm that has expertise in manufacturing and quality systems methodologies and practices.

Second, McNeil is improving processes and employee training in every part of the manufacturing and quality operations, and deploying new procedures and processes for the conduct of quality investigations.

Third, McNeil has also made significant organizational changes in order to augment the quality and operations leadership on the management team and in all McNeil facilities.

McNeil and its outside consultant are in the process of developing a comprehensive action plan on quality improvements, which McNeil will share with the FDA by July 15. The basic elements of the plan include the following:

Governance and management controls. Governance during the remediation period will include the establishment of a steering committee, which will include members of senior management, charged with guiding and overseeing remediation efforts across McNeil. Each plant will also have a remediation committee that will be responsible for implementing the plan for that plant and monitoring its effectiveness. Achieving long-term improved management control at each site is critical, and will require an evaluation and restructuring where needed of, among other things, the quality control unit, McNeil’s development and manufacturing governance processes, and its quality management systems.

Training and Culture of Compliance. McNeil is committed to reinforcing and enhancing the culture of compliance throughout the company. McNeil has already taken actions to set higher expectations of employees and to increase employee focus on identifying underlying causes and finding lasting solutions to issues that arise during daily operations. Further actions to address the culture of compliance under the comprehensive action plan will include strengthened “good manufacturing practices” training program, the development of a leadership training program and enhanced supervisor training, and the establishment of quality goals for all employees. McNeil also intends to implement measures to improve communications to and among personnel. Employees will be informed of the status of remediation and ongoing efforts on a regular basis through communications that enlist them in facilitating this transformation.

Full Assessment and Improvements. McNeil will conduct a full assessment of the processes, equipment, and facility in Fort Washington, and will assess McNeil’s other facilities as part of the plan. McNeil and Johnson & Johnson are fully committed to providing the training, resources and capital investment needed to provide sustainable improvement of quality systems.

Product Assessments. McNeil will conduct in-depth quality assessments for each product McNeil manufactures to ensure each product’s ability to meet specifications throughout its shelf life. Product assessments will review, among other things, testing results, stability data, investigation reports, out of specification findings, rejections, and process changes. McNeil will analyze whether additional controls are needed to support the release of products.

Communication with FDA and Interim Actions. McNeil will update the FDA about its progress implementing the plan at least once a month. McNeil also intends to use the support of a third party in making product release decisions during the first six months of operation. Third-party involvement may include review of investigations, complaints, completed batch records, and changes that have the potential to affect products or processes. McNeil is committed to continuing its cooperative and transparent dialogue with FDA.

These steps come on top of a series of important actions already taken, including an ongoing suspension of manufacturing operations at the Fort Washington manufacturing plant where the recalled products were made, and conducting extensive outreach to parents, caregivers and health care professionals to keep them informed about the recent recall.

Last week, Johnson & Johnson was advised that the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was planning to hold a hearing on May 27th on the recent McNeil Consumer Healthcare recall, at which Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Weldon was invited to provide testimony. There have been some questions from the media about the company’s plans for the hearing, and I thought I’d pass on the statement we’ve been sharing with reporters:

The following is from my friend and colleague, From Efrem Dlugacz who is Vice President Global Total Rewards & Health Resource.

Having worked for many years handling benefits for Johnson & Johnson, I can tell you that employee wellness and disease prevention is as important as to me as ensuring employees have access to different treatment options. For many years, we’ve been encouraging employees to develop healthy lifestyles, and one of the most pressing challenges we face is figuring out a way to address the impact that inactivity and obesity have on our workforce.

In that, of course, we aren’t alone. Did you know that about two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese in the US and the direct and indirect cost of obesity-associated conditions in the United States is estimated at nearly $80 billion a year? People who are overweight or obese are at a greater risk for developing diabetes, stroke, hypertension, high cholesterol and certain types of cancers – and for an employer, that can mean greater absenteeism and higher healthcare costs compared to non-obese employees.

But employers can help make a difference.

We’ve found that employees who are inactive, overweight or obese, benefit greatly from company sponsored programs that focus on healthy living, eating, and exercise. In 1978, Johnson & Johnson launched “Live for Life,” a program tailored to address individual employee health needs. Since then, we’ve developed, launched and measured a number of successful wellness and prevention programs and as a result, our employees are motivated and encouraged to improve their health and reduce related health care issues. As National Employee Health & Fitness Day approaches, we invite you to check out the following video about one Johnson & Johnson employee – Jessica Empestan – who benefited from these programs:

For more than a year now, I’ve been Tweeting on behalf of Johnson & Johnson over at @JNJComm and have found it to be a great way to meet and interact with new people, keep up with the latest news and be available when people have different questions about what we are doing as an organization.

Well, now I’m pleased to welcome a few of my colleagues to the Twittersphere. Over the last few days, my colleagues including Rob Halper, who is responsible for the Johnson & Johnson YouTube Channel, Margaret Gurowitz who writes the Kilmer House blog, Mark Krajnak, who is responsible for the corporate website (and a photographer extraordinaire) and fellow JNJBTW contributor Melissa Waggenspack, have set up their own Twitter accounts and are starting to Tweet.

Those accounts include:

@JNJStories – where Mark and Melissa will share stories about our company, our people, our partners, our patients and our customers.

@JNJvideo – where Rob Halper will be posting a variety of tweets that touch on his world of video content.

@JNJHistory – where Margaret will post about different historical facts, figure and stories

I, of course, will continue to Tweeting about different Johnson & Johnson-related news and events, announcements, interesting posts and content that’s been uploaded to our sites and other musings on stuff I find cool and interesting. I’ll also continue to be on hand on Twitter to respond to any questions you may have.

Tweet, Tweet.