The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has announced it has extended its investigation of McNeil PPC, a division of Johnson & Johnson, to cover an incident regarding a clandestine attempt to recall Motrin products in June 2009. The company was already under investigation for allegations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding sloppy drug manufacturing processes.
The June 2009 incident is related to charges by the FDA that McNeil attempted to secretively remove defective Motrin products from stores without going through official recall protocol. The FDA discovered the scheme after obtaining a memo from McNeil instructing contract workers to buy up large quantities of Motrin products from stores.
According to the memo, the contract workers were to “act like regular customers while making these purchases. There must be no mention of this being a recalled product.” Once the FDA learned of the scheme, they asked McNeil to recall 88,000 Motrin tablets nationwide. The drug manufacturer complied with the request.
The allegations prompting the recall were associated with problems with the way the drug dissolved. The FDA labeled this a Class 2 recall, meaning there was minimal risk of severe injury or death, but some risk of “adverse events.”
McNeil never released a press release informing the public of this product recall. While this is not required of Class 2 recalls, it is nevertheless customary.
Congress has informed Johnson & Johnson that they must produce additional information and records about the incident by June 7. Currently, the FDA is trying to figure out if McNeil has violated federal regulations.
There have been several other high profile defective drug issues associated with McNeil products in the past year. McNeil has issued four recalls for over-the-counter products in the last eight months, and they recently shut down a Fort Washington, Pennsylvania plant due to quality and safety problems. The plant had been manufacturing the recalled children’s Tylenol products.
If you have suffered an injury from taking one of the recently recalled McNeil over-the-counter products, an experienced defective drug attorney can help you receive compensation for your damages.
If you have a defective drug claim in the Norfolk, Virginia area, please contact the attorneys at Kalfus & Nachman today to schedule your free initial consultation.
Written by Andrew Martin: professional blogger and guru of misfortune.
