.gif)
Johnson and Johnson is recalling two batches of two of its products in Fiji following a recall issued by the company in the United States.
General manager Fiji Savendra Dayal said pharmacies open today had been advised of the recall which involved two batches of the caplets Tylenol Extra Strength and Motrin, both over-the-counter drugs.
Dayal told FijiLive that contrary to local media reports, the recall only involved the two batches.
“We have several batches of these two products in the market, only two batches are listed for recall. Hence it’s not a total product recall rather a recall of certain batches.”
Dayal said he did not know what products were included in the recall issued for the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
The Fiji branch does not distribute to other island countries, he said.
The US consumer products giant expanded Friday a Tylenol recall after US federal authorities warned the company was being too slow in deal with a public health threat.
The expanded recall covered the pain reliever and other over-the-counter drugs sold in the Americas, the United Arab Emirates and Fiji, AFP reported.
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a unit of J&J, said it was voluntarily recalling about 500 lots of the products, which include pain relievers Tylenol, Motrin and St. Joseph, a children's aspirin.
The company already had recalled in December all lots of a type of Tylenol product in response to consumer complaints of a foul odor that in some cases had prompted "non-serious" gastrointestinal disorders including vomiting and diarrhea.
McNeil said an investigation had shown the "unusual moldy" odor is caused by the presence of trace amounts of a chemical called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA).
"This can result from the breakdown of a chemical that is sometimes applied to wood that is used to build wood pallets that transport and store product packaging materials," the company said.
"The health effects of this chemical have not been well studied but no serious events have been documented in the medical literature."
Deborah Autor, director of the FDA's compliance office on drugs, told reporters Friday that the federal agency had warned McNeill that it had mishandled the problem.
"We sent a warning letter to McNeil for failure to report quality problems," she said.
"McNeil should have acted faster. When something smells bad, literally or figuratively, companies must aggressively investigate and take all necessary actions."
Dayal said of the batches being recalled, one consignment of 50 cartons of Tylenol 24s was ordered of which 25 were sold.
Of three cartons of Motrin received recently, one-and-a-half cartons were sold while the rest was still in the warehouse.
He said pharmacies that were open today had been advised with the notification process expected to be completed by close of business tomorrow.
“We have followed up with fax and email advice as well,” he said, adding that general practitioners and other relevant authorities were also “in the process” of being informed.
