Johnson&Johnson to serve growing middle class

Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson

He said China's dynamic urbanization drive is also going to have an impact on healthcare demand, as people will seek treatment for some diseases in urban areas, while they couldn't get access to those services before moving to cities.

"So we think all these factors are going to lead to a significant increase in demand for healthcare in China," he said.

Johnson & Johnson's sales in 2012 rose 3.4 percent year-on-year to $67.2 billion, while its adjusted earnings increased from $13.9 billion in 2011 to $14.3 billion in 2012, up 3.4 percent year-on-year. The Chinese market contributed nearly $2.5 billion in sales last year.

The company ranked 23rd on Fortune's list of the world's most admired companies in 2013, from 12th position last year, and is the top-ranked healthcare company. The other healthcare group on that list - St Jude's Medical -ranked 43rd.

Meanwhile, in terms of ranking within the pharmaceutical industry, Johnson & Johnson rose to fourth place from fifth last year.

"The ranking of the Chinese market will, absolutely, keep increasing. It's already among our top markets and we expect that to continue in the future," Gorsky said. "Across all our business areas - pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer - we are expanding our research and development centers. Now we have more than six R&D centers in China. We want to move from made-in-China to Designed-and developed-in-China. That will be a real opportunity, not only here in China but later to take these products around the globe."