McNeil to cut 300 jobs at Fort Washington plant

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary reeling over massive recalls of over-the-counter children's medications and other products, said Thursday that it would eliminate "about 300 of the over 400 positions" at its idled Fort Washington manufacturing plant.

At the same time, McNeil said it had provided the Food and Drug Administration with a "comprehensive action plan on quality improvement" to address problems at its three plants, including those at the Fort Washington facility that led to the April 30 recall of more than 140 million bottles of children's versions of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl.

"McNeil is committed to taking whatever steps are necessary to improve quality and earn consumers' trust," the company said in a brief statement e-mailed to reporters.

The statement said McNeil's plan included improvements in management and quality controls, "significant investment in manufacturing facilities, equipment, and laboratories," and use of outside experts "to provide additional quality assurance."

McNeil said it planned to use other Johnson & Johnson facilities to resume manufacturing many of the children's and adult products made in Fort Washington. As it has said previously, the company warned that many of those products would be unavailable at least until the end of 2010.

McNeil said employees facing layoffs would be paid "through at least mid-September," followed by a severance package based on years of service. But it held out limited hope they would be rehired, saying that "staffing levels at the reconfigured plant are expected to be substantially lower than they are today."

Nor is the plant expected to reopen soon.

"Our best estimate with regard to how long the plant will be closed will be at least until the middle of next year," McNeil spokeswoman Bonnie Jacobs said.

Production at the plant was suspended in April, two weeks before a critical report was filed by FDA inspectors who identified 20 significant problems at the facility, including lack of adequate controls on product quality and strength, shortcomings in training, improperly maintained equipment, and a failure to follow up on complaints.

Since September, McNeil also has recalled hundreds of lots of adult over-the-counter medications, including Tylenol Extra Strength, Benadryl, Motrin, and Tylenol Arthritis Pain.

Many of the recalls - which involved unspecified numbers of bottles or packages - were prompted by reports of "an unusual moldy, musty, or mildewlike odor" linked to reports of nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. McNeil blamed the problem on a chemical used to treat wooden storage pallets at a plant in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico.

McNeil has said it is not aware of any serious health problems related to use of the recalled medications. FDA officials have said they are investigating, but believe there was only a remote possibility of ill effects from the recalled children's products.

For more information about McNeil's recalls, go to http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/