Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced on Wednesday a $33 million multi-state settlement with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson concerning the way they represented certain over-the-counter drugs between 2009 and 2011.
Idaho’s portion of the settlement is just over $430,000.
“It’s important that companies like these play by the rules, especially when we trust our health to their products,” Wasden says. “This settlement helps hold the companies in question accountable for their actions.”
The settlement resolves allegations against McNeil-PPC, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. The company was accused of unlawfully promoting drugs as complying with federally-mandated current Good Manufacturing Practices, despite FDA findings that some McNeil manufacturing facilities did not comply with the practices between 2009 and 2011.
The alleged quality control lapses resulted in drug recalls for McNeil brands such as Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Sudafed.
The complaint filed Wednesday alleges that McNeil violated Idaho’s consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the current Good Manufacturing Practices compliance and the quality of its over-the-counter drugs, and represented to consumers that these drugs had sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, quantities, or qualities they did not actually have, according to a news release from Wasden’s office.
The settlement has been submitted to the Fourth Judicial District Court in Ada County for approval.
