Current Events

Johnson & Johnson paid a steep price this year for claims that its celebrated baby powder was contaminated with asbestos. And its 2019 could be even worse.

A jury ordered the company in July to pay $4.69 billion to 22 women who blamed the talc-based product for causing their ovarian cancer. The prospect of similar judgments helped erase $45 billion in J&J’s market value, with the shares headed for their biggest annual loss in a decade.

A dozen patients in three states were hospitalized with serious bacterial infections after receiving injections of umbilical cord blood that purportedly contained stem cells, according to federal and state health officials.

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that it had issued a warning to San Diego-based Genetech Inc., the company that manufactured the treatment that contained E. coli and other dangerous bacteria.

The patients in Florida, Texas and Arizona became seriously ill after receiving injections and IV infusions of the product at orthopedic clinics, according to a report by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA and the Florida Department of Health.

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FRIDAY, Dec. 21, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Patients should avoid a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones due to an increased risk of heart vessel tears associated with their use, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned.

"These tears, called aortic dissections, or ruptures of an aortic aneurysm can lead to dangerous bleeding or even death," the agency said in a statement issued Thursday.

The risk for these ruptures rises with the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics delivered by injection or as a pill, and the drugs "should not be used in patients at increased risk unless there are no other treatment options available," the FDA added.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Democratic U.S. lawmakers have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to answer questions about asbestos exposure after Reuters reported that documents showed Johnson & Johnson knew for decades of the mineral’s presence in its popular baby powder.

Whether asbestos in the talc supply in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder caused cancer has been the subject of litigation for years.

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The Food and Drug Administration, signaling stepped-up concerns about unapproved stem-cell treatments, on Thursday warned a California manufacturer about marketing “dangerous” products linked to serious infections in several patients.

The agency sent the warning letter to San Diego-based Genetech Inc., which sold cellular treatments derived from umbilical cord blood to Liveyon LLC, a distributor based in Irvine, Calif. The FDA said 12 patients who received the treatments subsequently became ill from blood and other infections caused by bacteria, including E. coli.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Drugmaker Allergan Plc said on Wednesday it would take its textured breast implants off the market in Europe, a day after a French regulatory body ordered a recall of the implants, which have been linked to a rare form of cancer.

Allergan defended the safety of its breast implants, but its shares fell 7.4 percent to $135.94 on Wednesday as some Wall Street analysts questioned whether the company would have to face any future product liability costs.

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(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson failed to persuade a Missouri trial judge to set aside a July verdict awarding a record $4.69 billion to 22 women who blamed their ovarian cancer on asbestos in the company’s Baby Powder and other talc products.

The healthcare company faces thousands of lawsuits over the safety of talc in its Baby Powder, a fixture of its consumer products division that has been core to J&J’s reputation as a family friendly company.

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NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - Johnson & Johnson’s talc crisis will linger for years. Investors erased $40 billion of its market value on Friday, after Reuters revealed the U.S. healthcare giant knew for decades its baby powder was sometimes tainted by asbestos. The company says the story is an “absurd conspiracy theory” as “every method available to test J&J’s talc for asbestos has been used by J&J, regulators, or independent experts, and all of these methods have all found that our cosmetic talc is asbestos-free.” If history is a guide the market may have over-reacted, but lawsuits and brand damage don’t easily dissipate.

J&J faces thousands of lawsuits from users that claim the company’s talc resulted in health problems. In July, a jury in Missouri ordered the company to pay $4.7 billion to 22 women who claimed their ovarian cancer was caused by asbestos in J&J’s products. The market had shrugged off that decision. The company’s stock by Thursday had risen nearly 5 percent since January, giving it a market capitalization of almost $400 billion.

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Kimberly-Clark has issued a voluntary recall of some U by Kotex tampons, after a "quality-related defect" caused the tampons to come apart inside of consumers' bodies, leaving pieces behind after the tampon was removed.

The problematic tampons have pushed users to "seek medical attention to remove tampon pieces left in the body," the personal care company says. "There also have been a small number of reports of infections, vaginal irritation, localized vaginal injury, and other symptoms."

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Johnson & Johnson has begun settling consumers’ claims that it sold artificial hips knowing they were defective, marking the first settlements in the seven-year-old litigation.

A federal judge in Texas overseeing the cases said about 3,300 of 10,000 “have settled or are in the process of settling,’’ according to a Dec. 9 court filing. Terms of the accords weren’t made public.

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Infant ibuprofen destined to be sold at several national retailers might contain a higher concentration of ibuprofen, leading to potential risks in infants, according to a Wednesday voluntary recall notice.

New Jersey-based Tris Pharma, Inc. said lots sold under Walmart, CVS Pharmacy and Family Dollar brands are impacted by the recall. The products were labeled to contain 50 mg of Ibuprofen per 1.25 mL.

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