Ajit Shetty will stay on as chairman of the Board of Directors

Beerse, 4 November 2008 –As of today, Tom Heyman will succeed Ajit Shetty as managing director of Janssen Pharmaceutica. Ajit Shetty will stay on as chairman of the company’s Board of Directors. Given that Ajit Shetty was appointed Corporate Vice President Operations for the entire Johnson & Johnson Group two years ago, a handover of the company’s daily management imposed itself.
Tom Heyman is a member of the Group Operating Committee of Johnson & Johnson’s Pharmaceutical Division, Executive Vice President Business Development and in charge of the discovery and early development groups in Beerse, Spring House (Pennsylvania) and San Diego (California). After having spent 18 years in the United States, Tom will now return to Belgium.
After studying law at the KU Leuven and in Geneva, Tom Heyman joined Janssen Pharmaceutica’s Legal Department in 1982. In 1989 he was appointed Vice President Trade & Licensing, and in 1990 he moved to the United States. In 1992 he became Executive Vice President Business Development of Johnson & Johnson’s Pharmaceutical Division. In 2007 he was named Global Head Discovery & Early Development. He will continue to hold these positions, in addition to his new task as managing director of Janssen Pharmaceutica.
During this period, which spans more than 20 years, Tom Heyman played a key role in the in-licensing of some of the group’s most important products in the fields of pain relief, the treatment of neuro-degenerative and cardiovascular diseases, hepatitis C and cancer. He also played an important role in the acquisition by Johnson & Johnson of highly specialized companies such as Centocor, ALZA Corporation, Tibotec, TransForm Pharmaceuticals, 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals and Scios.
Ajit Shetty was appointed managing director of Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1999 and has been chairing the Board of Directors since 2004. Under Ajit, Janssen Pharmaceutica developed into a worldwide centre for the Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Division, thanks to the construction of plants for high technological chemical and pharmaceutical development and production, a new centre for research and development and a financial treasury center.
In 2007, King Albert II bestowed the title of baron on Ajit Shetty for his exceptional merits.

Ajit Shetty reflects on Tom Heyman’s appointment: “This is a logical step, in view of Tom Heyman’s longstanding career in our company and his responsibilities at group level. It also confirms the importance of our Belgian activities within the group as a whole. It became increasingly difficult for me to continue to combine all these activities, but the company is now in good hands.”
Tom Heyman comments: “It is quite an honour to succeed Ajit Shetty at the helm of Janssen Pharmaceutica. Janssen is my home base: my career started here, and in later years I always worked closely with my Belgian colleagues. It is a wonderful company with a lot of potential, which plays an important role and will continue to do so within Johnson & Johnson. We are experiencing a difficult period, but I share Ajit Shetty’s optimism. I am convinced that we have a great future ahead of us if we continue to focus on continuous innovation, a good collaboration and high quality.”

Note to Editors
A press conference will be organized on 17 November, which will be attended by Ajit Shetty and Tom Heyman. More details on this press meeting will follow soon.

For more information:
Hilde Claes, Vice President Human Resources, Tel.: + 32 (0)14 60 29 22