J&J Recall Watch: 360,000 surgical wound drainers

Johnson & Johnson announced another recall today, this time pulling about 360,000 products sold in the U.S. for use draining surgical wounds, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

J&J’s Ethicon unit, which makes the Blake Silicone Drains, J-VAC reservoirs and other withdrawn products, says it hasn’t received any reports of side effects. The company said it decided to recall the devices after customers complained the sterile packaging could be compromised.

The company blamed the problem on an unidentified contract manufacturer. Here’s the company’s letter to patients.  We’ve been keeping tabs on J&J’s string of recalls, which cost it about $900 million in sales last year. Here’s a running list:

J&J’s Animas unit recalled earlier this month more than 384,000 insulin-pump cartridges in the U.S. and France, saying they have the potential to leak and give a too-low dose, as Dow Jones Newswires reported.As Dow Jones Newswires reported recently, J&J?s Ethicon unit issued a late-December alert in the U.K. that it was recalling about 585,000 surgical sutures. The sutures were mostly sold in Europe.In late February, J&J recalled more than 667,000 Sudafed packages at the wholesale level after a typo on the packaging (“do not not divide, crush, chew, or dissolve the tablet”) was discovered.?

Customers don’t need to return the products, which have the correct wording on the blister packs that hold the tablets. No adverse events have been reported as a result of the typo, J&J says.Earlier in February, J&J said it was pulling at least 395 injection pens preloaded with rheumatoid-arthritis drug Simponi because they may not deliver a full dose of the drug. Days before, Dow Jones Newswires reported that the company’s Ethicon unit recently recalled 700,000 vials of a liquid wound sealant and also a hernia-treatment product.

Earlier that week, J&J said it was recalling 70,000 syringes preloaded with its Invega injectable anti-psychotic drug because cracks have been found in the syringes that could theoretically lead to infections or under-dosing in users.

In January J&J said it would pull 43 million bottles of certain Tylenol, Benadryl, Sinutab and Sudafed products because they were made at the company’s Ft. Washington, Pa., plant at a time when equipment may not have been properly cleaned.
Photo: Associated Press
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