Pharmalot: The Sorry List of Johnson & Johnson Troubles

“We now see a strong likelihood of near-term FDA enforcement action.”

Once again Ed Silverman in his Pharmalot blog outlines the issues that have plagued the pharmaceutical industry giant over mandated recalls, “phantom recalls”, other regulatory misdeeds that have impacted their venerable brands including Tylenol, Mylanta, Motrin, Rolaids and Benadryl.

In his blog, Mr. Silverman cites Wells Fargo Securities analyst Larry Bigelsen regarding the potential impact of continued FDA scrutiny on their operations and to J&J stock.

This blog presents some interesting, whimsical insight into the depth of the problem and the potential impact operationally and financially to J&J.

Secure Pharma Chain sees this as a cautionary tale to the pharmaceutical supply chain- protect the production, quality, efficacy and distribution of your product and inventories within the supply chain or risk the reputation and viability with the consumer. The stakes are high and the consequences to the brand and the consumer can be lethal.

It is vital that all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain deploy and utilize technologies that protect consumers from adulterated, fraudulent, sub-standard, poor quality and counterfeit drugs.

To read the entire Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/12/the-sorry-list-of-johnson-johnson-troubles/

To learn more about pharmaceutical authentication technology, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Pharmalot: Another Day, Another Johnson & Johnson Recall

Ed Silverman continues his insightful and humorous blogging on yet another recall from J&J’s McNeil Consumer Health unit:

Highlighted in Mr. Silverman's blog:

• Once again, Johnson & Johnson has yanked a huge amount of over-the-counter medicines. This time, the recall involved about 4 million packages of children’s Benadryl allergy tablets and about 800,000 bottles of children’s Motrin caplets from pharmacies and distributors due to “inefficiencies” in manufacturing.

• Specifically, all product lots of Children’s Benadryl Allergy Fastmelt Tablets in cherry and grape flavors distributed in the US, Belize, Barbados, Canada, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, and St. Thomas and all product lots of Junior Strength Motrin Caplets distributed in the US. However, there was no indication of any adverse event reports or that the products “do not meet quality standards,” she wrote. Consequently, consumers can continue to use the products.

• Unlike the series of previous recalls, the health care giant did not issue a press release to announce these moves. When asked to explain the difference in procedure, the spokeswoman wrote this is considered a distributor recall, but that the info was posted on the individual product web sites on Nov. 15.

• Tens of millions of bottles have since been recalled; a plant in Fort Washington, Pa., has been shuttered and may be retrofitted; some 300 plant workers lost their jobs; Congressional hearings have been held; federal and state investigations are under way; consumer confidence in the company is falling; a quality control guru was appointed at the corporate level and at least $600 million in sales will be lost this year.

Since the posting of the Pharmalot blog, J&J has added another recall, this time of nearly 9 million bottles of Tylenol.

At some point, it seems logical that J&J would aggressively be doing everything in its power to alleviate these quality control issues.

To read the entire Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/11/another-day-another-johnson-johnson-recall/

GAO: FDA Fails to Inspect Foreign Drug Plants Sufficiently

US General Accountability Office writes a scathing report on the FDA’s failure to inspect foreign drug manufacturing facilities.

Ed Silverman in Pharmalot blogs about the US General Accountability Office recent report which has determined that the FDA failed to implement earlier recommendations that would close the gap between the agency’s approach to inspecting domestic and foreign drug manufacturing facilities.

According to the Pharmalot post:

• The GAO writes that it is unclear if steps being taken by FDA “will prove successful” and there is an “urgent need” to better protect public health by putting GAO suggestions into practice.

• Here are some key findings:

o The FDA boosted its budget for foreign inspections to $41 million in fiscal 2009 compared with $12 million in fiscal 2008 and $10 million in fiscal 2007, and increased the number of foreign inspections.
o In fiscal year 2009, for instance, the FDA conducted 424 foreign inspections, compared to 333 and 324 inspections conducted in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, respectively.

• The GAO examined a list the agency kept to prioritize foreign inspections and estimated only 11 percent of the facilities were completed in fiscal year 2009.

• “At this rate, GAO estimated it would take FDA about 9 years to inspect all establishments on this list once.” That same year, 1,015 domestic inspections were made, or about 40 percent of domestic facilities.

• The FDA did not know how many foreign drug establishments were subject to inspection, because of inaccurate info in agency database. There were 3,765 facilities in the FDA databases, but 2,394 may never had been inspected. Most of these, not surprisingly, are located in China and India.

• The FDA continues to emphasize inspections of establishments listed on applications for a new drug, instead of those already producing drugs for US consumption. The FDA’s approach is “inconsistent” with the GAO’s 2008 recommendation that the FDA inspect plants, “at a comparable frequency,” that are identified as posing the greatest public health, regardless whether these are foreign or domestic, if there is a manufacturing problem.

• The US Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged the need for improvement, but cites obstacles toward progress, such as the need to obtain permission from the foreign government of the country in which an establishment is located in order to conduct an inspection.

Clearly this report is very troubling to the average health care consumer given the proliferation of raw material contamination's, recalls due to poor manufacturing process, adulteration, fraud and a myriad of other issues that plague our pharmaceutical supply chain.

Historically pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing more of their raw materials, production and packaging than ever before and the FDA does not have the capacity or ability to identify all of the manufacturing plants are that produce the drugs that are taken every day by US consumers.

Along with more robust inspections, it is incumbent upon all members of the supply chain to take measures to make absolutely certain that the products of their brand or the products they distribute or dispense are safe and efficacious.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain to implement a variety of solutions and technologies to test and authenticate the products within their inventories to protect their brand and most importantly the consumer.

To read the entire Phamalot post, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/11/fda-fails-to-inspect-foreign-plants-sufficiently-gao/#more-27487

To learn more about pharmaceutical verification technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Pharmalot: Hold Your Nose, Pfizer Recalls More Smelly Lipitor

For the second time in three months, Pfizer is recalling thousands of bottles of its Lipitor cholesterol pill after smelling a musty odor.

Ed Silverman in Pharmalot is blogging on another Pfizer Lipitor recall due to the product containing a musty, unpleasant odor.

According to Mr. Silverman:

• The drugmaker already recalled 191,000 bottles of Lipitor - but only the 40mg dose - after receiving consumer reports last July. Once again, the problem is blamed on packaging supplied by another company.

• “The company has identified the source of the problem - the bottle manufacturer’s plant in Puerto Rico, which had shipped empty bottles to the Pfizer plant in Freiburg, Germany for use in packaging Pfizer products,” according to a Pfizer statement.

• The drugmaker adds that the risk of health consequences to patients “appears to be minimal, and steps are being taken to preserve product quality and patient trust,” although still more recalls may occur.

• Musty odors are a growing problem for Pharma. The recall scandal enveloping J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit came to light after the FDA earlier this year released a warning letter that the health care giant failed to take sufficient action in response to batches of Tylenol Arthritis Relief Caplets that had a musty smell.

• This is getting costly for Pfizer. Assuming these are the same 90-count bottles that were recalled last time and that these sell for at least $1.50 each, or roughly $135 a bottle, that amounts to $5.13 million at retail, since the pricing comes from PharmacyChecker.com.

• Add that to the $25.7 million from the last recall and the total retail value is now north of $30 million.

Pharmaceutical companies need to protect their brand and the consumer by deploying quality assurance testing of their product, post-production within the supply chain.

Not considered in Mr. Silverman's cost calculations are the cost of managing and returning the recalled product which easily doubles the actual retail cost of the product.

Once mighty brands are losing consumer confidence due to quality control problems that could and should be easily resolved.

Like the issue with J&J this contamination occurred because of issues with a chemical used in the pallets used to store and ship the product. Many things can impact the quality and efficacy of the drug within the supply chain.

To read the entire Pharmalot post, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/

To learn more about pharmaceutical supply chain authentication technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/

Pharmalot: Moms and Docs Think Less of Johnson & Johnson

A new survey finds the health care giant’s reputation has declined 27 percent among mothers, 31 percent among pediatricians and 23 percent among general practitioners.

Once again, Ed Silverman in the September 29th edition of his Pharmalot blog, examines the repercussions to the reputation of industry giant J&J in the wake of their recent recall scandal.

Here are some of the highlights of the blog post:

• If anyone thought the very messy recall scandal would blow over and Johnson & Johnson would emerge unscathed, they may want to think again. A new survey finds the health care giant’s reputation has declined 27 percent among mothers, 31 percent among pediatricians and 23 percent among general practitioners.

• Looked at another way, all three groups rated its reputation as an 8 - on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 as horrible and 10 as perfect - before the recalls. Now, all three groups rate J&J between 5 and 6. The survey of 139 mothers and 50 physicians was conducted by CLSA analyst David Maris, who says that, since some moms will moms and docs have permanently changed their view of J&J, “this is serious.”

• On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = not serious at all and 10 = extremely serious, moms were asked how serious they believed the recalls were. The average rating was 7.3. Meanwhile, 72 percent of the moms said the recalls have not permanently changed their view of J&J, and 56 percent will continue to trust the J&J brand. But 28 percent say the recalls have permanently changed their opinion. Of pediatricians, 60 percent will not change their prescribing habits for J&J products, but 28 percent of pediatricians and 36 percent of GP's say the recall is a serious quality issue.

• 53 percent of the moms trust J&J the most when compared to store-brand products offered by Wal-Mart and CVS, but 29 percent thought J&J brands were no better or worse than those store brands. And 48 percent of the docs say they may prescribe or recommend more non-J&J products in the future given the recall. Such as? generic versions of ibuprofen, acetaminophen,
diphenhydramine, Merck/SGP’s OTC Claritin, and Pfizer’s Children’s Advil. A field day for J&J rivals, yes?

• The health care giant is under a microscope for allegedly trying to hide from the FDA and consumers that some products were tainted and the hearing will be the first time that Weldon has appeared in public this year to address the problem. Small wonder moms and docs react the way do.

• Here’s how one doc answered the survey: “Your products are still not available. You have made my job more difficult. Answering tons of calls regarding the lack of fever reducer for children - “what do we do now?” Use generics, they are just as good.” And another: “Not permanently damaged, but J&J will have to do major PR to earn back customer’s trust and confidence in their products. Have to remember target audience like moms who are scared to death to use J&J products on their beloved children.”

• “We think negative changes in corporate reputations are serious and the ramifications may be slow to become apparent,” he writes in a report. “Doctors and consumers think that there are more things J&J can do to rebuild trust and confidence, with open and direct communication being most highly cited. Time will tell whether J&J successfully rebuilds this confidence and whether there are any longer-term consequences for the recalls.”

Clearly the entire pharmaceutical supply chain needs to take lessons from J&J’s mis-steps. Quality control and protection from fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications are taking a serious toll on all of the members of the supply chain, not to mention most importantly the consumer.

To read the Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/09/moms-and-docs-think-less-of-johnson-johnson/#more-26662.

To learn more about pharmaceutical authentication technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Pharmalot: Killing Snakes with Bad Tylenol

Pharmalot has a great suggestion for the J&J CEO to turn the recent recalls into a win-win.

Ed Silverman in his September 8th blog titled, Snake in the Grass, J&J Can Recoup Tylenol Losses, has come up with a novel way to turn this bad situation by donating the recalled Tylenol to the U.S. military for “a perfectly good cause”.

Apparently the U.S. military has come up with a solution for their invasive brown tree snake problem at their naval base in Guam. They have discovered that snakes die when they consume acetaminophen. They now are proposing dropping mice fed with acetaminophen from a helicopter into the jungles surrounding the base…

As Mr. Silverman so eloquently elaborates:

Snakes, after all, do not care if their Tylenol smells musty or contains metallic flecks. Grind ‘em up, feed ‘em to the mice, drop the mice in the jungle and, voila, no snakes. And for Weldon, no embarrassing trips to the landfill.

“The discovery that snakes will die when they eat acetaminophen was a huge step forward,” Anne Brooke, conservation resources program manager for Naval Facilities Command Marianas, tells Stars and Stripes “The problem was how you get the snakes to eat it.”

Putting Guam aside for a moment, this could be the public relations coup that Weldon so desperately needs. Rather than sheepishly dispose of millions of Tylenol tabs in the middle of the night, he and his new quality control team can be photographed proudly donating the poorly made goods to an effort that serves vital US interests. And best of all - J&J may be able to realize a tax break in the process. How’s that for leadership possibilities?

I guess if you are the CEO of J&J you have to take the lampooning when under your watch, your company so thoroughly botches quality control and the subsequent attempt to cover its tracks from the consumer and the government.

Clearly the entire situation is a cautionary tale for the entire supply chain. Thankfully for all, the only fatalities to this recall, other than some careers and stock portfolios, will be to the population of the brown tree snake in Guam.

To read the Pharmalot post, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/09/snake-in-the-grass-jj-can-recoup-tylenol-losses/

To learn more about supply chain authentication solutions, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.

Sun Pharma And Its Incredible, Imploding Bottles

Ed Silverman in Pharmalot, blogs about an unusual and severe case of a company suffering from poor GMP and quality control due to overseas manufacturing...
imploding bottles of pills.

As usual Silverman’s excellent blog enlightens by stating:

How’s this for unusual? Over the course of a three-month inspection earlier this year, FDA inspectors found something interesting at the Sun Pharmaceuticals plant in Cranbury, New Jersey - imploding bottles. The spectacle prompted the agency to issue an Aug. 25 warning letter to the Indian drugmaker that its facility is, essentially, out of control and, therefore, violating good manufacturing practices.

To wit, the FDA noted that Sun Pharma was aware last September that bottles of Gemfibrozil tablets, which are used to regulate cholesterol and triglycerides, were imploding in its sample room, but did nothing about the problem until the agency showed up this past March. There was no field alert issued. There was no recall until March of this year. And there was no explanation as to why Sun failed to investigate until the FDA arrived.

Apparently the drugs are manufactured overseas and clearly Sun Pharmaceuticals has a significant quality control issue. Not to mention an issue with the dispensers and consumers that have this product on their shelf.

It is especially troubling that Sun Pharmaceuticals seemed aware of this issue but did little to correct it or warn its trading partners and the consumer of the potential danger of the product.

This again is a cautionary tale of those within the pharmaceutical supply chain needing to protect their business and the consumer by authenticating and verifying their inventories at all stops.

Clearly no one wants to be the person that ingests this product.

To read the entire Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/.

To learn more about pharmaceutical authentication solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Pharmalot: FDA Commish 'Feels Very Encouraged' About China

Ed Silverman in his excellent blog, Pharmalot offers his opinions and commentary on comments made by FDA Commisioner Margaret Hamburg during her recent tour of China.

Some of Mr. Silverman’s commentary includes:

· There she is in Shanghai, touring some facility with Chinese government officials who, of course, will do their best to make sure she doesn’t catch a whiff of a contaminated active ingredient or come within 100 miles of a gray market supplier. And there is international diplomacy to consider, after all - who buys all that US government debt?
· Despite being labeled a paper tiger by a pair of Congressman who are angry over the lack of progress into the Heparin probe the FDA commish was all smiles as she explained her view of the relationship between her agency and its Chinese equivalent.
· “I leave feeling very encouraged by the partnership we’ve developed here,” Hamburg tells the Associated Press. “This is a priority for China as it is for the United States.” She adds the two agencies are pursuing a “common agenda” to improve manufacturing practices and regulate supply chains.
· The FDA has set up offices in three Chinese cities and is cooperating in training and joint inspections, among other areas. But as the AP notes, more than 20 million imports of FDA-regulated products are expected this year, and less than 1 percent are inspected. Earlier this year, the FDA began using an automated system to sort through millions of foreign shipments and identify food and drugs that are most likely to be contaminated.
· But “we will never have the resources physically and financially to inspect all those facilities,” Hamburg readily concedes. “It is not a simple problem to eliminate in terms of the practice of bad actors who are willing to put human health at risk to make more money. It is an area we are continuing to monitor very carefully.”

Clearly it does not appear that the US and the FDA is coming into this process with a strong hand.

It seems doubtful that in the near term unless there is some epic tragic event that disables or kills a large population within a developed nation that the Chinese will cooperate or make the necessary changes within their system to demand a higher level of regulatory and industry compliance to basic good standards and practices.

As China continues to produce more and more raw materials and finished pharmaceutical products that are consumed around the globe, it is vital that the members of the global pharmaceutical chain (manufacturers, distributors and dispensers) verify the quality of the products within their inventories to protect both their businesses and more importantly the consumer.

To read the entire Pharmalot blog post: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/08/fda-commish-feels-very-encouraged-about-china/#more-25617.

To learn more about pharmaceutical supply chain authentication solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

FDA a Paper Tiger: China and the Heparin Probe

Ed Silverman on July 22nd blogs in Pharmalot about the questions being raised in Congress and within the media of the FDA’s lack of holding Chinese officials accountabile in tracking down the issue of the deadly Heparin issue that killed dozens in the US several years ago.

In this excellent blog post, Mr. Silverman highlights:

· ...how hard is the agency trying to get China to cooperate when problems arise? Not hard enough, according to a congressional probe that reveals the FDA repeatedly asked the Chinese government for help in pursuing an investigation into contaminated heparin, but was “severely hampered” by a lack of cooperation.

· You may recall that contaminated heparin made in China was linked to 81 deaths in 2007 and 2008 and the episode sparked a firestorm of criticism at the FDA for its failure to monitor medicines made there. Since then, the heparin scandal has faded from view, but the congressional probe revives the matter - and portrays the agency as a paper tiger.

· “It is shocking to find out two years after Chinese-made heparin was killing Americans, the Chinese government still has done no investigating to find out why,” Joe Barton, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, tells the Wall Street Journal. He and Mike Burgess, another Texas Republican who is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, blast the FDA for not pressing the Chinese or acting on info obtained over the past two years . The probe, by the way, comes as FDA commish Margaret Hamburg prepares for her first trip to China.

· An FDA spokeswoman tells the Journal that “there are serious limitations on what the FDA can do to pursue civil and criminal investigations in foreign countries, especially without the cooperation of the foreign government.” In a June 16 letter to the congressmen, the FDA wrote that it was “denied full access” to manufacturers of raw heparin in China.

· Chinese security authorities told a US official in Beijing in June 2008, that China wasn’t investigating the heparin episode as a criminal or administrative matter, he tells the paper.

This excellent blog brings to light the ability of the US government to properly investigate serious issues with quality, adulteration, fraud and counterfeiting with an important trading partner where a significant number consumer and health care products and their raw materials originate.

The lack of regulatory cooperation between nations is a serious concern to all within health care and its consumers.

Given the inability of the regulatory authorities to work together and properly vette and secure the global supply channels. Secure Pharma Chain believes that it is critical for all members of the global pharmaceutical supply chain to take measures to protect its inventories and brand by deploying technologies that validate the authenticity and efficacies of its products.

To read the entire Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/07/china-stymies-fda-probe-into-contaminated-heparin/#more-25075

To learn about supply chain validation solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Pharmalot: J&J Fires 300 Employees Over the Tylenol Recalls

Once again Ed Silverman in his Pharmalot blog continues to maintain the best insight and commentary on the never ending J&J Recall scandal.

In a July 15th blog, Mr. Silverman reports on J&J’s recent publicly released statement which included the announcement that they will fire 300 to 400 people who work in the Fort Washington, Pennsylvania McNeil plant. This is the site and headquarters where most of the quality-control problems were found and the managerial decisions were made.

Mr. Silverman’s Pharmalot commentary included:

· The healthcare giant submitted its long-awaited remediation plan to the FDA today - you know, the plan that is supposed to help Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit get back on track after recalling tens of millions of over-the-counter pediatric medicines. And in a vague statement, J&J says one way to cope is to can 300 of the 400-plus people who work at the Fort Washington, Pa., plant where most of the quality-control problems were found and managerial decisions were made.

· The employees are being let go because it’s not clear when the plant will operate again. A J&J spokeswoman says the “best estimate” is the middle of 2011. Recently, J&J acknowledged that a few hundred million dollars in sales will be lost; the average annual sales of the products made at this plant over the last three years were about $650 million, although that remains a sliver of J&J consumer sales, which last year were $4.2 billion out of $16.5 billion total sales worldwide. J&J vows to expand capacity elsewhere to compensate for the shortages.

· There was no word, however, whether any senior McNeil execs are among those being shown the door, given that the McNeil unit is headquartered in Fort Washington. Take Peter Luther, who heads the unit. He allegedly recommended a recall of Motrin pills without notifying the FDA or the public.

To read the entire Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/07/jj-fires-300-employees-over-the-tylenol-recalls/#more-24878.

As quality control issues continue to dog large branded and generic pharmaceutical companies it is vital that all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain monitor the quality and protect their inventories in order to make certain that health care consumers have access to safe and efficacious medications.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog endorses material authentication which can be deployed easily and efficiently within the supply chain to verify the authenticity and quality of medications within their unit of sale container.

To learn about material authentication solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Pharmalot: How Can J&J Recover From The Recall Scandal?

Once again Ed Silverman in his leading pharmaceutical insider blog Pharmalot continues to scoop the media with some of the most insightful perspectives on the recent Johnson & Johnson Recall Scandal.

In his latest Pharmalot blog piece, he interviews Laura Ries a Marketing Consultant for her take on how Johnson & Johnson handles their image in the midst of this continuing saga.

To view this excellent Pharmalot blog, visit:
http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/06/how-can-jj-recover-from-the-recall-scandal/#more-23772.

Phamalot: Johnson & Johnson And Its Mystery Shoppers

Pharmalot, Ed Silverman’s excellent pharmaceutical insider blog posted a riveting blog on the continued saga of the truth behind Johnson & Johnson's recent recalls of its hugely popular over-the-counter brands which included Motrin and Tylenol.

Currently the industry giant finds itself in embroiled in Congressional investigations and regulatory review from the FDA which may involve criminal charges.

Here are some of the highlights from the Pharmalot blog:

· The Johnson & Johnson recall scandal is threatening to envelope the healthcare giant in ways that, just a few months ago, no one could imagine. The latest twist involves a series of emails that appear to lend further credence to what a Congressional committee is calling a ‘phantom recall,’ which was allegedly undertaken to obscure serious problems with widely used over-the-counter pediatric medications. The episode is part of a long-running chain of events may prompt the FDA to consider criminal charges.

· At issue are quality-control failures that forced J&J to recently recall tens of millions of bottles of such venerable brands as Tylenol and Motrin, among others, which had been found to contain too much active ingredient or metallic specks. But instead of issuing a recall, J&J hired an outside contractor to buy Motrin from stores, and its employees were instructed to act like “regular customers” and not discuss a possible recall. This was disclosed at a May 27 Congressional hearing.

· Since then, internal J&J documents obtained by Pharmalot would appear to undercut some of J&J’s contentions, such as the notion that its contractor’s assignment was limited and transparent. A J&J spokeswoman told The New York Times the contractor’s memo was created without the knowledge of its McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit. But e-mails suggest J&J employees were aware, including Lily Vandermolen, an associate product director at McNeil, and Carolyn Parziale, a diretor of quality assurance at McNeil.

Mr. Silverman’s blog goes into detail about Johnson & Johnson’s insider knowledge and it would surely mean that there are many documents that leave a trail to an institutional knowledge of the product out in the supply chain was well known to have quality issues and be potentially harmful to the consumer.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog endorses that all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain deploy technologies and solutions to actively verify the authenticity and quality of its inventories to protect themselves and the consumers from poor quality control, adulteration, fraud and counterfeit product.

To learn more about authentication technologies that can verify pharmaceutical products inside their sealed unit-of-sale container, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

To read the entire Pharmalot blog, visit: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/06/johnson-johnson-and-its-mystery-shoppers/#more-23843.