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The Johnson & Johnson Files : The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant
400 pages, Paperback
Published May 20, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 1, 2025
While the subject matter is good and very eye-opening for somebody not even remotely related to the field, I found the book excruciatingly long. There are 378 pages of it, and I really think this could have been 50-60% shorter.
Usually, with non-fictions about scandals or issues of this magnitude, you expect that to be a page turner. Unfortunately, the Johnson and Johnson Files was anything but.
The author goes on to recount the same things at multiple places without offering anything new towards arguments or observations. Multiple times I observed that the author talks about a certain incident, then adds his opinion on that, and then again adds a conclusion to it - all while trying to trigger the readers' emotions not by what was actually being said, but by his commentary. Last I checked, it was more of a fiction books thing.
Adding an excerpt (page 267),
"What should have been a straightforward response turned into a maze of vague statements and circular reasoning. The company's reluctance to acknowledge flaws in the ASR's design was glaringly obvious. They had turned a simple question into a complex riddle all while avoiding the real issue at hand. Instead, in the response, they highlighted various factors influencing revision rates, such as patient activity levels and surgical techniques - these points serve to dilute the focus on the ASR's design."
- This is author's own commentary after another paragraph which precisely talks about what the company responded on its design. I am inclined to ask here, what new info is the author offering or dissecting with this paragraph - it's just a re-iteration of what has been already mentioned in the last paragraph.
Another example of his comments taking the story nowhere (same page 3rd para)
"It is puzzling that even seven years after the recall, the company still struggled to provide a clear explanation for the higher revision rates of the ASR implant. As patients continued to share their stories of pain and disappointment, one could not help but wonder how a major corporation could remain so vague about such a critical issue. It seemed almost surreal that after so much time, the company hadn't been able to definitively identify whether the design flaws of the materials used on the implant were at the heart of these complications."
- The context here was a direct conversation between two parties. Hence these commentaries were unnecessary when he had the actual excerpts from the report to move the story forward. And the book is riddled with countless instances like this.
Before closing, I would like to reiterate that in no way my comments are to belittle the subject matter or the importance of the story. It should be consulted by everyone. But then I am not sure if this book is the right medium for that.
Usually, with non-fictions about scandals or issues of this magnitude, you expect that to be a page turner. Unfortunately, the Johnson and Johnson Files was anything but.
The author goes on to recount the same things at multiple places without offering anything new towards arguments or observations. Multiple times I observed that the author talks about a certain incident, then adds his opinion on that, and then again adds a conclusion to it - all while trying to trigger the readers' emotions not by what was actually being said, but by his commentary. Last I checked, it was more of a fiction books thing.
Adding an excerpt (page 267),
"What should have been a straightforward response turned into a maze of vague statements and circular reasoning. The company's reluctance to acknowledge flaws in the ASR's design was glaringly obvious. They had turned a simple question into a complex riddle all while avoiding the real issue at hand. Instead, in the response, they highlighted various factors influencing revision rates, such as patient activity levels and surgical techniques - these points serve to dilute the focus on the ASR's design."
- This is author's own commentary after another paragraph which precisely talks about what the company responded on its design. I am inclined to ask here, what new info is the author offering or dissecting with this paragraph - it's just a re-iteration of what has been already mentioned in the last paragraph.
Another example of his comments taking the story nowhere (same page 3rd para)
"It is puzzling that even seven years after the recall, the company still struggled to provide a clear explanation for the higher revision rates of the ASR implant. As patients continued to share their stories of pain and disappointment, one could not help but wonder how a major corporation could remain so vague about such a critical issue. It seemed almost surreal that after so much time, the company hadn't been able to definitively identify whether the design flaws of the materials used on the implant were at the heart of these complications."
- The context here was a direct conversation between two parties. Hence these commentaries were unnecessary when he had the actual excerpts from the report to move the story forward. And the book is riddled with countless instances like this.
Before closing, I would like to reiterate that in no way my comments are to belittle the subject matter or the importance of the story. It should be consulted by everyone. But then I am not sure if this book is the right medium for that.
April 28, 2025
The Johnson & Johnson Files is an investigative account by Kaunain Sheriff M. of the ASR Hip Implant Scandal of Johnson & Johnson, one of India's most significant medical controversies.
The book takes you back to 2003 when De Puy, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson launched the Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) Hip Implants. These were later found to be defective and led to metal ions leaking into the patients' bloodstreams. Even after the company issued a global recall for the implants in 2010, patients in India were kept in the dark about these developments.
Armed with a decade-long experience at The Indian Express, Sheriff exposes how the scandal spiralled in India, fueled by whistleblowers' revelations, patients' ordeals, and relentless legal battles. The book lays bare systemic breakdowns, exposing how corporate misconduct, lax regulation, and legal loopholes allowed negligence to thrive.
Sheriff’s deep reporting and on-the-ground accounts deliver a powerful, eye-opening portrait of a crisis that upended thousands of lives. This book isn't something that I would usually pick up, but being an enthusiast of investigative journalism, I found this book to be very engaging from beginning to end. It will also be a great read for those interested in knowing about the intersection of public health and corporate practices.
The book takes you back to 2003 when De Puy, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson launched the Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) Hip Implants. These were later found to be defective and led to metal ions leaking into the patients' bloodstreams. Even after the company issued a global recall for the implants in 2010, patients in India were kept in the dark about these developments.
Armed with a decade-long experience at The Indian Express, Sheriff exposes how the scandal spiralled in India, fueled by whistleblowers' revelations, patients' ordeals, and relentless legal battles. The book lays bare systemic breakdowns, exposing how corporate misconduct, lax regulation, and legal loopholes allowed negligence to thrive.
Sheriff’s deep reporting and on-the-ground accounts deliver a powerful, eye-opening portrait of a crisis that upended thousands of lives. This book isn't something that I would usually pick up, but being an enthusiast of investigative journalism, I found this book to be very engaging from beginning to end. It will also be a great read for those interested in knowing about the intersection of public health and corporate practices.
April 29, 2025
A book let down courtesy of being entirely written by ChatGPT. Atleast edit the damn sentence structures; extremely jarring to read the whole thing.
June 5, 2025
Well-researched book on J&J’s ASR controversy and how it played out in India and the world.
July 24, 2025
Amazing research and loved the way the author knit each case together. A must-read!
September 1, 2025
It’s a good piece of writing !!!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews