J&J suffers 65% drop in pain-reliever sales

There have been a lot of predictions about Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) suffering reputation in the wake of highly public consumer-drug recalls. But Advertising Age has some numbers. J&J's business in internal analgesics--including Tylenol and Motrin products, which accounted for several of those recalls--has dropped by nearly two-thirds year-over-year.

For the four weeks that ended June 13, J&J's internal analgesics sales are down 65 percent, AdAge reports, quoting numbers from Deutsche Bank. Market share has dropped accordingly. Meanwhile, cough, cold and allergy drug sales have plummeted. They're down 59 percent for the same period.

Now, some of that drop is a direct effect of the production halt at J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare plant in Fort Washington, PA. Drugs can't sell if they're not on store shelves. It's impossible to fully know how J&J's eminent brands are suffering from the recalls until after their supplies are back to normal.

- read the AdAge piece
- see CEO Bill Whedon's 2009 pay

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