Everyone has no doubt use bandaids or tylenol. Those products are wellknown products produced by Johnson Johnson, but Johnson Johnson is also a giant in many other areas. It is taking a leading role pairing a vaccine for covid19. Its ceo is alex gorsky, a west point train former military man who has done an incredible job over the last eight years making this company the most valuable Health Care Company in the world. Some people say the most commonly spoken words in the english language today are can you hear me because of the zoom phenomenon, but i assume in your case, the most commonly asked question of you is when is the vaccine coming . You must get asked this every hour on the hour, so why dont i do this as well when is the vaccine coming . Alex its usually about every 15 minutes that i get asked that. Let me start by saying i could not be more proud of the incredible work that our scientists and engineers have been doing over the past five months to put us in the position we are today for the vaccine. To think what would ordinarily take five to seven years we have been able to do in a matter of months is quite remarkable. Without their hard work and dedication you know, probably 40,000 or 150,000 employees mostly in our factories and facilities and laboratories have still been working, and they have been going around the clock to make that possible. We still have a lot of work to do, but we have made a lot of progress and we will be finding more in the coming weeks and months. Consistent with what we talked about recently when we announced the start of our phase three trial, we would expect by late this year, early next year we should be in a position to begin reviews with regulatory authorities to see if our vaccine is in fact safe, effective, and something that could be considered for emergency use authorization in the United States and more likely around the world. David even if you have emergency use authorization, to be realistic about it, it will not be ready until next year, right . Alex that is a good time frame be planning on. A lot of it will depend on what we find in phase three, and as you know that can depend on the instance of the virus, of course, because that has an impact on statistical analysis. It will depend on how well our vaccine is actually doing in this study and what kind of efficacy rates you have. For planning purposes, if you think about 82020, early 2021, those are the likely timelines that are most realistic. David you and another number of ceos of vaccine manufacturers have issued a letter saying you do not want to be politically pressured to have a certain date and so forth. Can you articulate why you felt the need for that letter . Alex we think this is an incredibly important time for the pharmaceutical industry, and it is absolutely critical during a time when unfortunately everything becomes politicized that we rely on data, science, wellestablished regulatory guidelines to guide all of our decisions regarding the development and actual utilization of these vaccines, and we thought collectively making a very explicit statement about our commitment, our pledge to following those established guidelines was very important to maintain the trust, confidence of people around the world regarding the safety and efficacy and accessibility of these vaccines. David in a recent survey, i read that only 19 are yet prepared today to take a vaccine if it is available. Is that a surprise to you in so many people are not ready to take it . Is that because of the perceived politi l asian of it zation of it . Alex unfortunately, it is not a surprise and it is fairly consistent with what you see with the annual flu vaccine. It could arrange anywhere from 20 to as high as 40 percent, 50 . I understand skepticism. There is a lot of misinformation and concern that people genuinely have based upon some of the readings you can find out there. That demonstrates how important it is for us to work closely with health care authorities, whether it is the cdc, barda, nih, agencies outside of the United States to follow appropriate protocols. Secondly, it will take a lot of education. That is not only the responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry, but it will require the government, perhaps even businesses, other stakeholders to make sure that we are sharing the facts. I am cautiously optimistic that as we provide more data, more information, as people see the potential impact, positive impact this could have in terms of returning back to a more normal state in some way that people will find the comfort and confidence to have a vaccine, because ultimately it will be very important as we think about returning to a new kind of normal. David the federal government has poured billions of dollars into getting a vaccine developed and provided you and other companies without money to help you facilitate the production. Do you think the taxpayer should get a benefit by either getting very low cost vaccines or free vaccines . Alex i think it is in the best interest we are seeing this kind of publicprivate partnership. It would be very difficult for us to make the kinds of advancements and accelerate the timeline we are doing right now were it not for the partnership we are seeing not only in terms of funds being provided but literally the day to day interactions taking place between regulators and scientists across many of these platforms. In our case, from the very beginning we made a pledge we would do this on a notforprofit basis. Yes, we are working with the government. We accepted government funds, but we also recognize it is important for us at this very unique time to do it on a notforprofit basis so that we can give as many people access around the world as possible. That is the approach we are taking. David there is a fear in some circles wealthy people will get the vaccine quicker than people who are not wealthy and you have with other ceos and Health Care Officials and the bill and Melinda Gates foundation signed a letter saying you are committed to making sure it does not go to only wealthy people and people in the United States. Can you explain why you pointed why you want to do have that letter and how you will make sure that happens . Alex the only way we beat the virus is if we have global distribution, and no one is safe if the entire world is not provided access. We are committed to doing this in an ethical and just way, and we worked very hard to make agreements clearly with governments like the United States, europe, japan, the gulf countries, but we are working in developed countries, but we are working handinhand with other pharmaceutical companies to ensure developing countries also have got access. David looking back, what would you say the cdc or fda or white house or has should have done for hhs should have done differently . Alex almost all of us underestimated the dramatic impact of this outbreak. David as we talk today, the big news is that President Trump and the first lady have contracted the coronavirus. Is that a surprise to you that could possibly happen . Alex i think it demonstrates we are all vulnerable and we still all need to be very vigilant and diligent in actions we are taking to prevent this virus from spreading any further. David you as the ceo of the largest Health Care Company in the United States, the 10th Largest Company by the market cap, you have to be very careful because i think it would look bad if the ceo of the largest Health Care Company got the virus. What do you do to protect yourself . Alex i think all of us have a huge responsibility to take care of ourselves and certainly those of us fortunate enough to be in this kind of a situation where we have responsibility of others ive got to be sure we put the safety of our employees, friends, family and all that we do. That starts with simple things, and one of the things that we have learned most through this pandemic is by making sure we are using social distancing, wearing masks, washing our hands, doing everything we can to prevent the spread of the virus are the most important steps we can take to bringing an end to this pandemic and dealing with it for the long term. David vaccines are what everybody is focused on but there are also therapeutics for people who might have already contracted the disease or already have the virus. Is there any progress being made on therapeutics that might help people who already have the disease . Alex that is a great point. There is no one Silver Bullet here. What is really important for everyone to understand, it will take a holistic approach, because its likely we will be dealing with this not only as a pandemic, but it will be endemic for several years Going Forward. In all likelihood, it will take a combination of therapeutics for patients who are actually sick, vaccines to prevent it from happening in the first place, and last but not least on hospital protocols, i think have done a great job, still more work to do in terms of reducing mortality and morbidity. David things that have been talked about are remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, and also convalescent plasma. Generally today you would not say those things are therapeutics that will solve the problem, right . Alex not each and of themselves. There will be various opportunities to use them. We will learn for example with convalescent plasma when and where they are most effective, in what patient populations . In an older population . Could they be used in an elder care facility where you are seeing an outbreak in a more aggressive way . Should antivirals be used earlier in the disease . We are developing a lot of information as we speak and we will learn a lot more in the coming weeks and months. David hindsight is always 20 20, but looking back what would you say the cdc or fda or white house or hhs should have done differently . Is there any think you would recommend someone in the future do differently if they were overseeing this kind of Pandemic Response . Alex when you look backwards, things always seem clear, and i think there are a few lessons, and i would also say almost all of us have underestimated the dramatic impact of this outbreak. If you would have asked most people eight or nine months ago if you would ever see the kind of impact we are seeing around the world right now, if you few would have gotten it right. I think there are lessons to be learned. First and foremost is the importance of Global Public health, and Going Forward we will understand much better that if we do not have Global Public health security, we do not have national security, economic security, and we will not have security as society. The importance of being prepared, making sure that we have got the kinds of particles protocols in place, certain products repositioned and frankly also move from a maniacal focus on efficiency and effectiveness in certain cases to one of resiliency and sustainability, particularly for these situations. David were even you surprised how dependent Johnson Johnson and the Health Care Industry was on manufacturing things in china and offshore so for ppe we had to beg the chinese to give us some material . Will that change in the future and were you surprised by the extent we were dependent about on offshore production . Alex yes, this is a lesson for all industries, every supply chain. The good news is over the last several decades, the globally integrated supply chain has reaped tremendous rewards in terms of efficiency and effectiveness for so many different companies. However it is important for us , to realize that we have got to make sure we have got the kind of redundancy and resiliency when these types of situations arise. We are looking hard across our supply chain as we speak to say, look, what are the things that yes we can still take advantage of so many of the efficiencies from what we were doing before, but what other things do we need to think about . Reshoring, what other capabilities do we need to have more local to make sure in future pandemics we are better positioned and prepared. David if the doctor says you need a bandaid and it is some other companys product, do you take it off . I had that happen one time. I had a bicycle accident where he went to get some stitches in my hand, and when i went to the hospital, i made sure they were our sutures. David working remotely, what did you learn about yourself that surprise you or made you please . Alex colome alex i get energy from being out and engaging with our employees and customers and i spent my entire career really doing my best to get to know people on a personal basis, being out and about, and one thing i have long known as a ceo is the higher you go, the either more troubling the news or the funnier your jokes can be, and unless you are out there engaging with employees daytoday, you can become insulated, and finding a way to do that visavis zoom took a little time, but it is something we are learning and adapting to day by day. David how do you think the world will change for Johnson Johnson once the pandemic is behind us . ix colome i hope alex hope we come back to a new and better normal. Our value system, along with innovation do depend upon proximity, collaboration, and working together, and that being said, we also feel Going Forward we should not just fall back into the exact same habits. Will we fly halfway around the world for that same to our twohour meeting the way we did before . Maybe not, but we need to have the same large gatherings with the kind of frequency, perhaps not. Does that mean people will be five days in the Office Versus others, no. Over the longterm, allowing people to get together, creating informal connections and networks around the company is really important to maintain, our value system, our culture as well as the innovation in our products and services. David lets talk about how you went from a graduate of west point to becoming the ceo of this company. Where did you grow up . Alex i could not have imagined 20, 40, 50 years ago i would be in this role and position. I was born in kansas city, kansas. My grandparents for the most part were immigrants and opened up small stores, work in meatpacking plants in kansas city, and i was there through my early years and that my father was moved with his job when i was 12 years old to a little town in the lower peninsula of michigan. David what compelled you to say i want to go to west point . Alex i was very fortunate. Both my mother and father worked. My father started with gerber baby foods and worked his way. But he was also a korean war veteran and he stayed in the army reserves, and my mother taught special education students, so i thought it was natural when you were going out that your father not only went to work and your mother went to work but one weekend a month he would put a uniform on to serve his country. I was really inspired by that, and i was one of six children, and i also knew going to a place like west point not only would afford me an opportunity for a great education and a career, but it was also an economical way to do it and one i could abate my own way through. I put all of that together and found that to be a really attractive path, and i was fortunate i was able to follow that. David when you graduated, did you say i want to be a healthcare care executive . How long did you stay in the military . Alex i graduated and like all of my classmates i went into the army as a lieutenant. I had an assignment in europe, my very first row and i was stationed back in the United States. I had a in california and the seventh infantry division, and i spent six years where i ended my service as a captain, a battery commander in a rapidly deployed unit and that is when i made my decision to exit the army and join Johnson Johnson. David you also got a mba from wharton. When did you have time to do that . Alex when i left the army, i started as a Sales Representative at Johnson Johnson as part of the Leadership Development program and i felt getting the skills, understanding customers, really learning what doctors and surgeons and nurses and people using our products on a daytoday basis was an important experience to get, and then i went into Sales Management later into marketing. I had studied engineering in college. I realized that if i was going to have these skills in a business i felt were really necessary that going back and getting exposed much more in to accounting, finance, strategy and other things was going to be important. I was very fortunate they supported my attendance of the executive mba program at wharton where i completed that at an early point in my career. David you started out in marketing with a subsidiary of Johnson Johnson. At the time, did you say somebody who starts out as a marketing person for this subsidiary surely it should rise up to be the ceo someday . Did you ever imagine you could rise up or you always had that is your goal . Alex no, i did realize however getting exposure and experience with as many different aspects of our business early on in my career was important, and marketing was one point you could interfere interface with research and development, engage with your finance counterparts, your supply chain people. It was really the kind of position to expose you to all aspects of the organization. At that time, i aspired to perhaps be able to run one of our divisions, and from there, things took on a life of their own. David you have now been the ceo since 2012, about eight years or so, and former ceos or fortune 500 companies, generally five, six years is fairly average. You are very young and obviously in good shape. It is were planned to do this for a long time in the future . Alex i am very fortunate to be the seven ceo of Johnson Johnson. I think one of the great characteristics of the company is the long tenure my predecessors have had, the continuity, the consistency, and in the kind of longrange thinking it imbues into the organizati