The announcement comes just months after the firm revealed that it was being forced to slash jobs and close facilities in a bid to cut costs and deal with impending patent expiries.
The new series of organisational changes announced by the firm yesterday aim to broaden the company's interests beyond its 'traditional' focus, and help push growth at the company.
By the start of January 2008, J&J plans to have established three entirely new business units.
The new office of strategy and growth will be responsible for identifying opportunities for growth outside J&J's usual box, focusing on areas that are distinct from those being pursued by its existing businesses but that are a strategic fit for the company.
The firm is also establishing a surgical care group to focus on advancing technologies, solutions and services dedicated to the surgical care sector, and a separate comprehensive care group dedicated to products addressing chronic conditions such as metabolic disorders.
"We have the know-how across our pharmaceutical, biologics, devices, diagnostics and consumer businesses to bring completely new solutions to market," J&J CEO William Weldon said in a company statement.
"And we believe we can accelerate growth through a dedicated focus on the intersection of our existing capabilities, customer needs and emerging trends."
The organisational reshuffle follows not far behind J&J's July announcement of plans to cut around 4,000 jobs as it deals with the challenging environment in which the pharma industry currently find itself.
By cutting jobs and closing several production sites, the company hoped to realise savings of between $1.3bn and $1.6bn, part of an effort to offset the significant losses when some of its big earners come off patent in the next few years.
One of the biggest concerns is antipsychotic medication Risperdal (risperidone), which last year made up around 18 per cent of the company's pharma sales by bringing in over $4bn.
With the product on the brink of patent expiry next month, J&J has been forced to address the looming chasm in its pharma revenue stream. Combine this with the 2009 patent expiry of epilepsy treatment Topamax (topiramate) ($2bn in revenues over 2006), and it J&J's attempts address these issues through operational overhauls are eminently understandable.
J&J is by no means alone in initiating this kind of company revamp, with GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co., Roche and Bayer just a few of the bigger names who have also succumbed to the restructuring drive currently pervading the pharmaceutical industry.
