WASHINGTON — Congressional investigators said Johnson & Johnson hired a private company that bought up defective packets of pain relievers in 2008 before recalling the pills months later, after prodding from federal regulators.
The new questions about J&J’s handling of quality issues came during a hearing about its latest recall involving more than 100 million bottles of children’s medicine, some of which contained tiny particles of metal.
The FDA has not linked the recalled products to any health problems.
Colleen Goggins, J&J’s president for McNeil consumer products, had few answers to questions from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about an alleged “phantom recall” of more than 88,000 packets of Motrin, a pain reliever containing ibuprofen.
According to FDA documents, J&J learned about a formulation problem in November 2008 that interfered with the pills’ dissolving action, causing them to lose potency.
J&J then hired an outside contractor to collect samples of the product — mainly sold in gas stations — and determine whether a recall was necessary. But instead of sampling the product, the contractor began purchasing large quantities of Motrin and instructing its employees not to mention a recall.
