Motrin Recall Issued Over Quality Problems

About 12 million bottles of Motrin IB have been recalled by Johnson & Johnson due to quality control problems, which could cause the medications to delay the onset of pain relief. 

The Motrin recall was announced on Wednesday by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of Johnson & Johnson. According to the recall notice, the closer the pills get to their expiration date, the slower they are to dissolve, which could delay relief.

Johnson & Johnson stated that there were no adverse events reported and the company believes there is no threat to consumers. The recall is taking place on the distributor and retail level and the company is not asking consumers to return Motrin bottles to stores.

The recall affects certain lots of Motrin IB Coated tablets and caplets in 24-count bottles. The affected bottles have the UPC codes 300450463029, 300450481030 and 300450481641. The bottles were distributed in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Fiji, Belize, St. Lucia and Jamaica. A full list of lot numbers of bottles affected by the recall is available in the Motrin recall announcement.

This is the latest recall in a string of drug quality problems that have plagued the McNeil unit and Johnson & Johnson. The retailer-level recalls that avoid asking consumers to return products have become a company trademark, which some believe is specifically geared toward minimizing bad press.

Quality control problems at McNeil led to an FDA injunction against the company’s Fort Washington, Pennsylvania plant in March, following a recall of tens of millions of packages of liquid medications.

National attention was focused on Johnson & Johnson’s OTC drugs after an April 2010 recall of Tylenol, Benadryl and Motrin, which affected affected 136 million bottles of children’s medications. That recall resulted in the shutdown of the plant and the suspension of the production of all children medications manufactured by their McNeil subsidiary.

The ongoing problems with Johnson & Johnson,  have resulted in Congressional hearings and have increased the likelihood that the FDA will receive increased powers to regulate drug makers. There have also been a number of Johnson & Johnson class action and individual lawsuits filed as a result of the ongoing problems.