Towns wants answers on J&J's alleged "phantom recall"
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Rep. Edolphus Towns investigates whether Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary McNeil Consumer Healthcare hired contractors to buy all of a small Motrin stock-keeping unit as part of a "phantom recall" in 2008. "The company's motivation was apparently to save itself the embarrassment and potential financial loss associated with a recall," said Towns, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The New York Democrat June 3 sent a 1letter to contractor WIS and a separate 2letter to Inmar Inc. - whose subsidiary Carolina Supply Chain Services may have recruited WIS to purchase the affected Motrin, Towns said. The letters ask the firms for details on what J&J contracted them to do. J&J OTC executive Colleen Goggins testified May 27 she was unaware of the contractors secretly purchasing the product, which failed to meet dissolution standards and was recalled formally in 2009 (3"The Tan Sheet" May 31, 2010)