J&J blames failed equipment for lens recall

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) generated some positive headlines last week when it set up a quality-control team to oversee manufacturing and compliance companywide. And another recall shows just how much the company needs that extra oversight.

J&J is now recalling disposable contact lenses--about 100,000 boxes of them--because of a manufacturing issue at a plant in Ireland. Customers in Japan had complained about eye pain and stinging when using the lenses. The company's Vision Care unit said the problem was isolated to one production line at the plant and has already been corrected.

It's just the latest recall for J&J, whose McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit has been plagued with manufacturing troubles for months now. The problems were so acute at a plant in Fort Washington, PA, that the company has shut it down for an overhaul. The plant is expected to stay idle well into next year, constraining supplies of J&J's high-profile children's drugs such as Benadryl and Tylenol.

- read the Wall Street Journal story
- get more from Reuters

ALSO: The FDA has ordered J&J's DePuy Orthopedics unit to halt sales of its Corail Hip System because the company is marketing it for an unapproved use, according to a warning letter made public on Tuesday. Story

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