Abbott exec tapped for H&P manuf. ops

Beleaguered OTC drugmaker H&P Industries said last week it had hired a former Abbott Laboratories ($ABT) exec to help the company dig out from its manufacturing hole. H&P operations were shut down under consent decree with the FDA.

Eamonn Vize is the company's new COO. He'll need his 20 years of pharma and biotechnology ops experience as H&P remediates manufacturing QA and QC operations to the FDA's satisfaction.

The drugmaker has conducted several product recalls since last December. Its Hartland, WI, plant was shut down in June following an FDA-mandated product seizure.

H&P received a 46-count FDA Form 483 inspection report in February and was shut down by the agency in April after U.S. Marshals seized $6 million in products and inventory. The actions followed three recalls of sterile and non-sterile alcohol wipes and swabs possibly contaminated with bacteria.

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