J&J sales affected by recalls, plant shutdown
The new year brought news of yet another recall for McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) of New Brunswick, N.J. In its fourth quarter and full-year 2010 financial results, J&J announced that the company s worldwide consumer sales were significantly impacted by last year s recalls and a related plant closing.
Most of it is behind us, but there could be a little bit ahead of us, said William C. Weldon, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of J&J, acknowledging that more recalls could come in 2011. He spoke to investors and the press in a conference call and webcast on the day the financial report was released, Jan. 25. Sales for the fourth quarter decreased 5.5% compared with the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the financial report.
The latest voluntary recall by McNeil, announced in a Jan. 14 news release, was for certain lots of Tylenol 8 Hour, Tylenol Arthritis Pain, and Tylenol upper respiratory products, along with certain lots of Benadryl, Sudafed PE, and Sinutab products. These products, distributed in the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil, were manufactured at the McNeil plant in Fort Washington, Pa., before April 2010, when production there was suspended. The wholesale-level recall was undertaken as a precaution after review of production records found instances in which equipment-cleaning procedures were insufficient or cleaning was not adequately documented.
J&J is also reviewing procedures used by outside contractors, who manufacture about 20% of its over-the-counter products, including the Rolaids tablets recalled last month, Weldon said in the investor call.
SOURCE:PFQ
