Once again, we have Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) recall news. And once again, it's a product sold by J&J operating unit McNeil Consumer Healthcare. The company says wood and other particles have been found in Softchews Rolaids, so it's expanding the November Rolaids recall to include all lots of the Softchews products.
It's just the latest in a long series of consumer-drug recalls afflicting the company, including a massive recall of millions of bottles of children's meds. After that episode, the company halted production at its Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, plant where the drugs were made, laid off staff and set about retooling.
Since then, unflattering FDA inspection reports have surfaced, executives have testified to Congress, and J&J has lost hundreds of millions in sales. The company remains under investigation by the FDA's criminal division, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Justice Department. CEO Bill Weldon (photo) announced a managment shift to boost quality-control efforts and promised a review of company manufacturing. Some recent recalls have stemmed from that review.
Now, expectations of further FDA action are growing; Wells Fargo downgraded J&J shares on the potential shutdown of an offending manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico, Dow Jones reports. That plant is where the recalled, musty-smelling Tylenol products were made.
- read the Reuters news
- get more from Dow Jones
- see the Wall Street Journal Health Blog post