5 Top Dow 30 Healthcare Stories of the Week

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to the week in Dow 30 healthcare stock news:

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ): Current price $73.92

Johnson & Johnson said that it will present its Medical Devices & Diagnostics division strategy for accelerating growth during its yearly Business Review. MD&D comprised around 41 percent of the company’s total sales last year. In addition, the firm announced that it is starting an exploratory process through which to examine strategic options for its Ortho Clinical Diagnostics unit. All options will be explored to choose the best opportunity to push future growth and maximize shareholder value. The available options include a possible divestiture if it is determined that OCD could have greater potential as part of another organization whose concentration is more closely aligned with its core strengths, or by being run as a stand-alone entity.

The company  is facing somewhere around 10,000 lawsuits and has taken approximately $900 million in charges in regards to to the all-metal hip replacement parts. Analysts predict that the firm’s legal liability could surpass $1  billion, says the Wall Street Journal. J&J executives found out about problems with the hip implants in 2008, the year prior to the firm’s ceasing production of the joints and two years before recalling them, according to documents which were unsealed in a state court in California.