Triad Group Asked to Halt Operations Following Recalls, Infections, Death

Federal regulators are moving to shut down operations by H&P Industries, which manufactures medical products under the name Triad Group. The action comes after another batch of inspections found serious sterility problems across the company’s product line, some which have been involved linked to reports of serious infection or death. 

According to an MSNBC report, the FDA is currently in negotiations with H&P Industries Inc., to get the company to close its doors after it has recalled millions of alcohol prep pads and other products due to the risk of bacterial contamination. The request has not yet risen to the level of a cease-and-desist court order, but such a move could occur if the company resists and continues attempts to sell its medical products.

The latest move by the FDA comes after a new rounds of inspections at the company’s Hartland, Wisconsin, production facility. While the latest FDA inspections only wrapped up on Monday, officials at the FDA have concluded that a number of H&P Industries and Triad Group products have been sold to the public carrying dangerous pathogens. Previous inspections going back to 2009 have revealed systemic problems across multiple Triad Group products, but the company has failed to correct its sterility deficiencies.

A Triad alcohol prep pad recall was issued in early January 2011, after it was discovered that tens of millions of prep pads, swabs and swabsticks tainted with the bacteria Bacillus cereus may have been distributed to consumers. The alcohol prep pads and wipes were commonly used in hospitals and packaged with a number of medications. They were sold under the Triad brand name, as well as under a variety of other labels, including CVS, Walgreens and Cardinal Health.

The company has also issued a Povidine Iodine Prep Pads recall and a sterile lubricating jelly recall in recent weeks. All of the products have sterility problems and have been found contaminated with a variety of infectious and sometimes dangerous bacteria. The alcohol prep pads are suspected in at least one death.

At least two Triad alcohol prep pad lawsuits have been filed in recent months; one by the parents of a two-year-old Houston boy who died due to a Bacillus cereus infection, and another by a Tennessee man who alleges that a Triad alcohol prep pad infection left him permanently disabled.