"federal prosecutors in Boston said J&J paid ...millions...kickbacks... nursing homes...schizophrenia drug."
Mort Zuckerman
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Subject: "federal prosecutors in Boston said J&J
paid ...millions...kickbacks... nursing homes...schizophrenia drug."
Date: Jan 16, 2010 5:17 AM
"Healthcare" is a crime scene.
It doesn't need *extra* propaganda
from an "economist":
http://salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/15/sunstein/index.html
=============
"Also on Friday, federal prosecutors in Boston said Johnson & Johnson
paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks so nursing homes would
put more patients on its blockbuster schizophrenia drug."
http://www.courant.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-johnson--johnson-tylenol-recall,0,6898540,print.story
courant.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-johnson--johnson-
tylenol-recall,0,679691.story
Courant.com
Johnson & Johnson issues massive recall of Tylenol, Motrin, and other
over-the-counter drugs
MARLEY SEAMAN
AP Health Writer
1:12 AM EST, January 16, 2010
Click here to find out more!
NEW YORK (AP) — Johnson & Johnson issued a massive recall Friday of
over-the-counter drugs including Tylenol, Motrin and St. Joseph's
aspirin because of a moldy smell that has made people sick.
It was the second such recall in less than a month because of the
smell, which regulators said was first reported to McNeil in 2008.
Federal regulators criticized the company, saying it didn't respond to
the complaints quickly enough, wasn't thorough in how it handled the
problem and didn't inform the Food and Drug Administration quickly.
The recall includes some batches of regular and extra-strength
Tylenol, children's Tylenol, eight-hour Tylenol, Tylenol arthritis,
Tylenol PM, children's Motrin, Motrin IB, Benadryl Rolaids, Simply
Sleep, and St. Joseph's aspirin.
The FDA and Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare Products
said they did not know the number of bottles recalled. It included
caplet and geltab products sold in the Americas, the United Arab
Emirates, and Fiji.
Consumers should check the full list at www.mcneilproductrecall.com to
identify the recalled batches.
The FDA said about 70 people have been either sickened by the odor —
including nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea — or noticed it.
The smell is caused by small amounts of a chemical associated with the
treatment of wooden pallets, Johnson & Johnson said. The FDA said the
chemical can leach into the air, and traced it to a facility in Las
Piedras, Puerto Rico.
The New Brunswick, N.J., company said it is investigating the issue
and will stop shipping products with the same materials on wooden
pallets. It has asked suppliers to do so as well.
The FDA said McNeil knew of the problem in early 2008 but made only a
limited investigation.
"McNeil should have acted faster," said Deborah Autor, the director of
the FDA's Office of Compliance of the Center for Drug Evaluation and
Research. "When something smells bad, literally or figuratively,
companies must aggressively investigate and take all necessary action
to solve the problem."
The FDA sent McNeil a warning letter for violating manufacturing
standards and failing to report and investigate the problem in a
timely way, Autor said.
Johnson & Johnson has 15 days to respond. The FDA says it wants an
explanation as to why the problem was not made public sooner.
In November, McNeil recalled some Tylenol Arthritis Caplets due to the
smell. Almost three weeks ago, the company expanded its recall to
include more batches of Tylenol Arthritis Caplets.
There have been no reports of nausea related to the most recent
recall, the company said. McNeil, however, said the expanded recall
includes product lots that could be affected by the same problems of
nausea.
The company said it is working with the FDA.
Also on Friday, federal prosecutors in Boston said Johnson & Johnson
paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks so nursing homes would
put more patients on its blockbuster schizophrenia drug.
The government's complaint states that J&J gave special rebates to
Omnicare Inc., the country's biggest dispenser of prescription drugs
to nursing homes, in return for recommendations from its pharmacists
that patients be given Risperdal, in many cases when it was
inappropriate.
J&J said in a statement it "will address the government's lawsuit in
court" and believes its rebates were "lawful and appropriate."
Johnson & Johnson shares fell 54 cents to $64.56 Friday.
"[Real] scientists are *fiercely* independent. That's the good
news."-- NIH's Top Fool, Anthony Fauci