Hearing Scheduled for McNeil Plant

A hearing is scheduled to examine the practices of the McNeil plant in Pennsylvania that helped spark the April 30 recall of many of Johnson & Johnson’s pediatric liquids, including Children’s Tylenol.  The recall was the fourth one involving adult or children’s Tylenol since September (Reuters).

The plant has been cited by the FDA for having “filthy” equipment, and for bacteria contamination that could be potentially hazardous.  They are also charged with failing to properly train staff.

McNeil’s Puerto Rico plant was also chided for quality control issues in January; the FDA contends that they did not handle complaints over a strange odor in some of their medications in a timely manner. 

Possibly contributing to the litany of problems plaguing the Fort Washington plant was McNeil’s drastic reduction in staff in recent months.   The LA Times is reporting that the plant had cut 478 jobs from the end of 2005 to the end of 2009.

The FDA is also reviewing over 700 “adverse events” reported by consumers on its MedWatch website.  Included in that number are 7 deaths.  At this point, however, the FDA says they have been unable to establish a link between the medications and the events. 

The manufacturing behemoth that Johnson & Johnson has become attests to the fact that at one time, they managed to maintain a standard of excellence within the industry.  However, some analysts are predicting that the company will be hard pressed to win back the brand loyalty of former consumers, who know they can buy generic medications that cost a lot less than the Tylenol brand.