The 'Hitman' of Big Pharma: How Johnson and Johnson Leaves Small Companies in Ruins

A bombshell investigation by Project Veritas reveals how Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a trusted household name, allegedly uses its clout to exploit and bankrupt smaller suppliers and manufacturing partners. Tyler Simpkin, a procurement leader in J&J’s medical device division, was caught on hidden camera admitting to predatory tactics that leverage the company’s prestige to dominate and discard vulnerable businesses.

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As J&J’s primary liaison to over a dozen partner companies, Simpkin boasted, “I’m the face of J&J to them,” before detailing a ruthless strategy: J&J enters contracts with suppliers, absorbs their expertise and processes, then abruptly terminates the agreements - often leaving the smaller firms financially crippled.

“Yeah, we basically learned from that company and then made our own process. It’s a little unethical,” Simpkin confessed. “I think we gave them a one-month notice… and then they were actually filing for bankruptcy.”

He further explained how J&J exploits its dominant market position: “I have a supplier that - we’re about 80% of their business… They basically rely on us for the majority of their business because we’re such a household name, J&J, so much prestige is in that. And so, we use that, we leverage that.”

The Project Veritas journalist pressed Simpkin about the devastating fall-out J&J’s tactics have on unsuspecting partners. “And then J&J pulls out and they can’t afford anything anymore?” the journalist asked. “Yeah,” Simpkin confessed.

One victim of this alleged scheme is Bodycote, a supplier of titanium knee joints. When asked if Bodycote knows J&J plans to abandon their deal, Simpkin chillingly replied, “No, they still don’t. I’m still lying to them.”

When pressed about the legality of these practices, Simpkin revealed J&J skirts the edge of compliance with a team of lawyers on speed dial. “There’s a few [laws against it],” he said about their business practices, adding that J&J often operates without contracts entirely.

“You’d be surprised. There’s so many people we do business with [and] we don’t have a contract… Technically, we could do whatever we want.”

He admitted the company sticks to “the bare minimum that we are required to do,” but conceded the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) might take issue: “The ethics, they could raise a case.”

This investigation lays bare a troubling pattern: Johnson & Johnson, a household titan that builds its empire on broken businesses, allegedly thrives by preying on the trust and dependence of smaller partners. As families across America stock their cabinets with J&J products, the companies that help make those goods possible are left shattered - bankrupted by a giant that wields its name like a weapon.

Are regulators and the public ready to confront the cost of J&J’s unchecked power? Stay tuned.

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