CompetitorsNarrow moat

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) — moat facet

J&J's annual report names no competitor, but its rivals include the company that owns the patents on its biggest drug.

Johnson & Johnson's annual report does not name a single competitor. Its competition section says that competition exists in all product lines without regard to the number and size of the competing companies involved, and that competition in research is particularly significant1. That is accurate and not very useful. A company selling hundreds of medicines and devices in virtually every country competes with almost everyone, so the helpful question is what kind of relationship each important rival represents.

Market value of large drug companies, Sep 2026 ($bn)Eli Lilly1,030Johnson & Johnson652AbbVie468Merck365Novartis271stockanalysis market-cap data, September 2026
Second among these peers, well behind Lilly.

Four kinds matter, and they could hardly be more different. The first are rivals that sit inside J&J's own revenue. Genmab owns the patents on Darzalex and collects a royalty of approximately $2.4 billion a year2; Bayer co-developed Xarelto, AbbVie's Pharmacyclics co-markets Imbruvica, and Legend Biotech developed Carvykti with J&J3. These are partners and competitors at once, and each takes a share of what the products earn.

The second are the companies that copy J&J's own molecules. Biosimilar makers took Stelara from $10,361 million in 2024 to $6,078 million in 20254, and at least two are pursuing approval for a Simponi biosimilar in the United States5. They do not need to discover anything; they wait.

The third is an incumbent J&J is attacking rather than defending against. With the Ottava robot, authorised by the FDA in July 2026, J&J enters soft-tissue robotic surgery against Intuitive's da Vinci, becoming a second heavyweight challenger after Medtronic6. Here J&J has no installed base and must win hospitals one at a time.

The fourth is a small company that beat J&J in court. Innovative Health, a medical device reprocessing company7, won a jury verdict and a permanent injunction against J&J's Biosense Webster over business practices it said restricted competition8. It is a reminder that some of J&J's advantages rest on contract terms a court can remove.

Among the large drug companies, J&J's market value of $652.05 billion9 sits below Eli Lilly's $1.03 trillion and above AbbVie's $468.43 billion and Merck's $365.34 billion10. Scale gives J&J the resources to compete on every front, but it faces a specialist on each one.

One kind of rival is missing from the list, and its absence is telling. J&J does not face a single company that competes with it across both medicines and devices at similar scale; its peers are either drug companies, such as Eli Lilly, AbbVie and Merck11, or device companies such as Medtronic and Intuitive12. The breadth is an advantage in purchasing, research and distribution, and a disadvantage in focus: in every market J&J meets a specialist that thinks about nothing else.

The research contest is where most of the competition happens. J&J spent $14,665 million on research and development in 202513, and it still bought Intra-Cellular, Halda and Firefly because rivals, often small biotechnology companies, had discovered things it had not1415. The filing's statement that competition in research, both internally and externally sourced, is particularly significant16 is the most accurate sentence in its competition section.

The competitive pressure shows up in the sales bridge more than anywhere else. In 2025 volume added 8.4 points to growth and price subtracted 3.117. J&J is selling more of its products each year and getting less for each one, which is what competition from copies, payers and new medicines looks like in aggregate.

The verdict is a narrow competitive position: strong where J&J controls a disease area, as in multiple myeloma, and exposed where the product can be copied or the incumbent is entrenched. Keep an eye on the price line in J&J's sales bridge, minus 3.1 points in 202518: competition that works shows up there first.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Biosimilar pressure is peaking on Stelara while J&J opens a new front against Intuitive.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Market value against the largest drug peer
$652.05bn vs Eli Lilly $1.03T (September 2026)

J&J's standing among the large drug companies; the gap to Lilly moves with each company's growth outlook.

Source: JNJ market cap history (stockanalysis) ↗
Dig deeper
DIG DEEPER 01
Genmab, Bayer, AbbVie and Legend: Rivals Inside the Revenue
J&J pays Genmab about $2.4 billion a year in royalties on its largest drug, which makes Genmab the company's most profitable partner and a rival at…
DIG DEEPER 02
The Companies Copying Stelara
The rivals that took $4.3 billion of Stelara sales from J&J in 2025 spent almost nothing discovering the drug.
DIG DEEPER 03
Intuitive: The Incumbent J&J Is Attacking
In robotic surgery J&J is the challenger, entering against an incumbent with the installed base J&J enjoys everywhere else.
DIG DEEPER 04
Innovative Health: The Rival That Won in Court
A company that reprocesses J&J's used heart catheters won an antitrust verdict and an injunction against J&J's best device business.
References
  1. ReportedIts competition section says that competition exists in all product lines without regard to the number and size of the competing companies involved, and that competition in research is particularly significant.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 1 business: segments, competition, patents, the three largest products, royalties, collaboration partners and the regulatory table. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedGenmab owns the patents on Darzalex and collects a royalty of approximately $2.4 billion a year; Bayer co-developed Xarelto, AbbVie's Pharmacyclics co-markets Imbruvica, and Legend Biotech developed Carvykti with J&J. These are partners and competitors at once, and each takes a share of what the products earn.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 1 business: segments, competition, patents, the three largest products, royalties, collaboration partners and the regulatory table. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedGenmab owns the patents on Darzalex and collects a royalty of approximately $2.4 billion a year; Bayer co-developed Xarelto, AbbVie's Pharmacyclics co-markets Imbruvica, and Legend Biotech developed Carvykti with J&J. These are partners and competitors at once, and each takes a share of what the products earn.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 1 business: segments, competition, patents, the three largest products, royalties, collaboration partners and the regulatory table. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedBiosimilar makers took Stelara from $10,361 million in 2024 to $6,078 million in 2025, and at least two are pursuing approval for a Simponi biosimilar in the United States.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 7 MD&A: Innovative Medicine segment, therapeutic-area and product sales analysis. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedBiosimilar makers took Stelara from $10,361 million in 2024 to $6,078 million in 2025, and at least two are pursuing approval for a Simponi biosimilar in the United States.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 7 MD&A: Innovative Medicine segment, therapeutic-area and product sales analysis. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedWith the Ottava robot, authorised by the FDA in July 2026, J&J enters soft-tissue robotic surgery against Intuitive's da Vinci, becoming a second heavyweight challenger after Medtronic.
    MedTech Dive, J&J gets FDA authorization for Ottava robot, teeing up competition with Intuitive. — July 2026 · publ. 22 July 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedInnovative Health, a medical device reprocessing company, won a jury verdict and a permanent injunction against J&J's Biosense Webster over business practices it said restricted competition.
    Innovative Health, medical device reprocessing company - home page: electrophysiology economics and the statement that some individual catheters cost more than $4,000. — 2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedInnovative Health, a medical device reprocessing company, won a jury verdict and a permanent injunction against J&J's Biosense Webster over business practices it said restricted competition.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 1A risk factors, Note 19 legal proceedings (talc, Innovative Health, Auris, Tracleer) and the Inflation Reduction Act. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  9. ReportedAmong the large drug companies, J&J's market value of $652.05 billion sits below Eli Lilly's $1.03 trillion and above AbbVie's $468.43 billion and Merck's $365.34 billion.
    Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) market data - $270.57 a share on 24 September 2026, market cap $652.05B, dividend $5.36 (1.98%), 52-week range 175.74-281.07. — September 2026 · publ. 24 September 2026 · source ↗
  10. ReportedAmong the large drug companies, J&J's market value of $652.05 billion sits below Eli Lilly's $1.03 trillion and above AbbVie's $468.43 billion and Merck's $365.34 billion.
    Johnson & Johnson market capitalisation history - year-end values 2015-2025 ($284.22B in 2015, $348.19B in 2024, $498.60B in 2025) and related companies (Eli Lilly $1.03T, AbbVie $468.43B, Merck $365.34B). — 2015-2026 · publ. September 2026 · source ↗
  11. ReportedJ&J does not face a single company that competes with it across both medicines and devices at similar scale; its peers are either drug companies, such as Eli Lilly, AbbVie and Merck, or device companies such as Medtronic and Intuitive.
    Johnson & Johnson market capitalisation history - year-end values 2015-2025 ($284.22B in 2015, $348.19B in 2024, $498.60B in 2025) and related companies (Eli Lilly $1.03T, AbbVie $468.43B, Merck $365.34B). — 2015-2026 · publ. September 2026 · source ↗
  12. ReportedJ&J does not face a single company that competes with it across both medicines and devices at similar scale; its peers are either drug companies, such as Eli Lilly, AbbVie and Merck, or device companies such as Medtronic and Intuitive.
    MedTech Dive, J&J gets FDA authorization for Ottava robot, teeing up competition with Intuitive. — July 2026 · publ. 22 July 2026 · source ↗
  13. ReportedJ&J spent $14,665 million on research and development in 2025, and it still bought Intra-Cellular, Halda and Firefly because rivals, often small biotechnology companies, had discovered things it had not.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 7 MD&A: rebate accrual tables, research and development, cost of products sold, debt and liquidity. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  14. ReportedJ&J spent $14,665 million on research and development in 2025, and it still bought Intra-Cellular, Halda and Firefly because rivals, often small biotechnology companies, had discovered things it had not.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 7 MD&A: rebate accrual tables, research and development, cost of products sold, debt and liquidity. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  15. ReportedJ&J spent $14,665 million on research and development in 2025, and it still bought Intra-Cellular, Halda and Firefly because rivals, often small biotechnology companies, had discovered things it had not.
    Johnson & Johnson announcement completing the acquisition of Firefly Bio, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1. — July 2026 · publ. 29 July 2026 · source ↗
  16. ReportedThe filing's statement that competition in research, both internally and externally sourced, is particularly significant is the most accurate sentence in its competition section.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 1 business: segments, competition, patents, the three largest products, royalties, collaboration partners and the regulatory table. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  17. ReportedIn 2025 volume added 8.4 points to growth and price subtracted 3.1.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 7 MD&A: consolidated sales, volume and price, geography, the three wholesalers, rebate accruals, costs, R&D and liquidity. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
  18. ReportedKeep an eye on the price line in J&J's sales bridge, minus 3.1 points in 2025: competition that works shows up there first.
    Johnson & Johnson Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (year ended 28 December 2025) - Item 7 MD&A: consolidated sales, volume and price, geography, the three wholesalers, rebate accruals, costs, R&D and liquidity. — FY2025 · publ. 11 February 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026