Drug giant Johnson & Johnson reported an 8.9 percent growth in income for the second quarter this morning, driven by strong sales in its pharmaceutical unit and improvement in other areas. The company's medical devices and diagnostics unit reported sales up nearly 20 percent. The Wall Street Journal notes that the unit is "expected to be a key driver of growth for the company" once its billion-dollar merger with Guidant is completed. That assumes, of course, that the Guidant- J&J deal is still on after the Indianapolis device maker's recent run of serious problems, something of which not everybody is convinced.
- see this story from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)