No More Tears - by Gardiner Harris (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - An explosive, deeply reported exposé of Johnson & Johnson, one of America's oldest and most trusted pharmaceutical companies--from an award-winning investigative journalist

"A damning portrait."--Associated Press

"A page-turning drama that raises life-or-death questions about the world's largest healthcare conglomerate."--Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD AND THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE - A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY AND NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

One day in 2004, Gardiner Harris, a pharmaceutical reporter for The New York Times, was early for a flight and sat down at an airport bar. He struck up a conversation with the woman on the barstool next to him, who happened to be a drug sales rep for Johnson & Johnson. Her horrific story about unethical sales practices and the devastating impact they'd had on her family fundamentally changed the nature of how Harris would cover the company--and the entire pharmaceutical industry--for the Times. His subsequent investigations and ongoing research since that very first conversation led to this book--a blistering exposé of a trusted American institution and the largest healthcare conglomerate in the world.

Harris takes us light-years away from the company's image as the child-friendly "baby company" as he uncovers reams of evidence showing decades of deceitful and dangerous corporate practices that have threatened the lives of millions. He covers multiple disasters: lies and cover-ups regarding the link of Johnson's Baby Powder to cancer, the surprising dangers of Tylenol, a criminal campaign to sell antipsychotics that have cost countless lives, a popular drug used to support cancer patients that actually increases the risk that cancer tumors will grow, and deceptive marketing that accelerated opioid addictions through their product Duragesic (fentanyl) that rival even those of the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma.

Filled with shocking and infuriating but utterly necessary revelations, No More Tears is a landmark work of investigative journalism that lays bare the deeply rooted corruption behind the image of babies bathing with a smile.

Review Quotes

"A savage takedown of one of the world's most trusted companies . . . Harris, a veteran US health reporter, brings the receipts as he takes us beyond talc into a wider world of alleged deceptive marketing, concealed data and profit-chasing at the expense of patients."--Financial Times

"In No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson, veteran reporter Gardiner Harris uses his investigative skills to scrutinize the legacy of the company, as well as that of federal regulators. What he unveils is a damning portrait . . . a valuable history that's not limited to Johnson & Johnson, and helps for a broader understanding of today's health care system."--Associated Press

"Deeply researched and smartly written, No More Tears reveals the disturbing story behind one of America's most trusted brands. Gardiner Harris has done a great service, giving us a page-turning drama that raises life-or-death questions about the world's largest healthcare conglomerate."--Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize winning author of King: A Life

"Leave it to Gardiner Harris, the premier pharma reporter of his generation, to take on the industry's leviathan, laying bare the ruthless soul of 'America's favorite company.' Harris's tour of the sausage factory is one that doctors, nurses, and their patients should all take, to see for themselves how the business of medicine really works."--Benedict Carey, award-winning New York Times science correspondent and author of How We Learn

"A masterpiece of muckraking . . . This hard-hitting exposé from journalist Harris documents scandals and malfeasance by the pharmaceutical conglomerate Johnson & Johnson. . . . Harris supports his takedown with a mountain of evidence and conveys his findings in scorching prose."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Harris conducts consummate investigative journalism in this gangbuster exposé of the Johnson & Johnson corporation. . . . He takes readers on a dark and devastating ride through a corporate pattern of greed and malfeasance that becomes more disturbing with each revelatory chapter. . . . Comparisons to Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain (2021) are obvious, although Harris' work is all the more stunning as Johnson & Johnson has held an enviable and unmatched degree of trust in America for decades. It is very nearly impossible to believe that this company could be capable of so many layers of deceit and dishonesty, yet that is exactly what Harris lays bare in this masterfully researched title with a narrative akin to a thriller in its intensity. . . . An absolutely unforgettable must-read."--Booklist, starred review

About the Author

Gardiner Harris previously served as the public health and pharmaceutical reporter for The New York Times and is now a freelance investigative journalist. He also served as a White House, South Asia, and international diplomacy reporter for the Times. Before that, he was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering the pharmaceutical industry. His investigations there led to what was then the largest fine in the history of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, he was the Appalachian reporter for The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky. He won the Worth Bingham Prize for investigative journalism and the George Polk Award for environmental reporting after revealing that coal companies deliberately and illegally exposed miners to toxic levels of coal dust. Harris's novel, Hazard, draws on his experience investigating these conditions. He has also been a Pulitzer Prize finalist with a team of others at the Times. He lives in San Diego, California.