Children's Tylenol Recall: FDA Report Rips Quality Control at Plant

May 5, 2010— -- Raw materials used to make children's liquid cold medications subject to an April 30 recall were contaminated with bacteria, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report released Tuesday.

The recall affected 43 different Johnson & Johnson products sold under the brand names of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl.

Preliminary tests have only narrowed down the possible bacterial contaminant to a category of microorganism described as "gram negative," a broad group that includes many germs potentially harmful to humans. No injuries or illnesses have been reported in relation to the recalled products, and the FDA has said that despite finding the bacterial contaminants in the raw materials used to make the drugs, tests have yet to reveal any of the finished product to be similarly contaminated.

The report also suggested that raw material with "known contamination with gram negative organisms" were used to manufacture several finished lots of Children's and Infant's Tylenol drug products.

In response to the report, the McNeil Consumer Healthcare plant in Fort Washington, Pa., where the medicines were made by the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, has been shut down by the company indefinitely. In addition to the presence of bacterial contamination in raw materials, the FDA report also cited inadequate quality-control procedures and spotty adherence to the quality-control procedures that did exist. FDA inspectors also noted dirty conditions within the plant. In total, the report made 20 observations of shortcomings at the plant.

Deborah Autor, director of FDA's drug compliance office, said during a Tuesday news teleconference that the report reflected "numerous deficiencies in the way McNeil products were manufactured."

But she said that while the agency's initial assessment of the quality shortcomings at the plant were serious, "[we] cannot yet say if further FDA action is warranted."

Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News senior health and medical editor, spoke with FDA officials who said they have been working with McNeil since May 2009 on these issues. They said that McNeil had assured them over time that they were taking sufficient action, but subsequent inspections showed otherwise.

The FDA met with Johnson & Johnson and McNeil in February to express its concerns about their production practices and was assured that the problems were being addressed.

Johnson and Johnson issued a statement Tuesday in response to the report.

"The quality issues that the FDA has observed, many of which we had recently identified in our own quality reviews and communicated to the FDA, are unacceptable to us, and not indicative of how McNeil Consumer Healthcare intends to operate," the Johnson and Johnson statement read.