McNeil provides update on comprehensive action plan

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — After announcing its voluntary recall of certain products at a wholesaler level on Friday, Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare division provided an update on its internal assessment phase of its comprehensive action plan.

McNeil said that it submitted details of its thorough investigation of quality and compliance issues to the Food and Drug Administration. The company said that the assessment, which involved products produced in McNeil's internal manufacturing network as early as 2007, identified a number of areas for improvement that are being addressed. The issues surrounding McNeil's manufacturing plant in Fort Washington, Pa., prompted the company to refit the plant, as well as put forth plans to invest in the upgrade of other McNeil facilities. The product recalls and subsequent Fort Washington closure influenced sales of OTC medicines produced by McNeil, J&J said back in July.

"Steps we have taken under the comprehensive action plan constitute an uncompromising and systematic effort to review quality and manufacturing practices at McNeil," said J&J chairman and CEO Bill Weldon. "They help us assure that moving forward, any of our products in the marketplace live up to the trusted standards and expectations that consumers have for all products coming from a Johnson & Johnson company, anywhere in the world."