First appeared in Bloomberg
Johnson & Johnson, the world’s second biggest
health-care company, announced its second round of leadership changes in less
than a year in a unit that’s recalled dozens of brands of consumer medicines. Indianapolis
Defective Drug Lawyer professionals are interested in these changes.
Patrick Mutchler, named in April as company group chairman
for over-the-counter products, will retire, to be replaced by Roberto Marques,
the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based drugmaker said in an e-mail today. Pericles
Stamatiades, chief strategist for the consumer business, is also leaving after
28 years at J&J, and his duties will be reassigned, the company said. A Charleston
Defective Drug Lawyer has been watching the changes.
The Mutchler and Stamatiades appointments followed two years
in which J&J recalled hundreds of millions of packets of Tylenol, Motrin,
Benadryl and other products due to foul odors, adulterated ingredients and bad
labeling. While the company resumed some sales last year, a shuttered plant in
Pennsylvania isn’t expected to reopen until next year, Chief Executive Officer
William C. Weldon said on a Jan. 24 call. A Salt
Lake City Defective Drug Lawyer had calls about the cases.
The over-the-counter business “will continue to be operated
as a separate, integrated business in order to maintain its focus on quality
and compliance, and on the successful reintroduction of OTC medicines in the
U.S. market,” Bonnie Jacobs, a spokeswoman for J&J’s McNeil consumer unit,
said in an e-mail. Denice Torres will continue to run day-to-day operations for
the U.S. business, she said.
Consumer Dismissals
J&J’s consumer division, which includes McNeil, is
dismissing an unspecified number of workers, the company said in a separate
e-mailed statement. “These changes will help us better serve consumers’ needs
and remain competitive in the face of ongoing global economic challenges,”
J&J said.
Jacobs declined to say how many positions were cut. The Wall
Street Journal, which first reported the management changes yesterday, said
about 100 employees were dismissed. A Minneapolis
Defective Drug Lawyer is interested.
J&J rose less than one percent to $65.91 at 4:04 p.m. in
New York trading. The shares have gained 10.3 percent in the past 12 months.
Pfizer Inc., based in New York, is the biggest seller of medical products.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) had $4.4 billion in
over-the-counter sales last year, a drop of more than 25 percent since 2008,
the year before the bulk of the recalls began. Jacobs declined to say why the
leadership changes were being made now. Mutchler is leaving after 35 years at
J&J, the company said. A Savannah
Defective Drug Lawyer will continue to watch the cases.
“After a career of building successful businesses, it was
Pat we turned to when we needed an experienced hand to strengthen McNeil, and
again he has delivered,” said Jesse Wu, the company’s worldwide consumer group
chairman, in a statement. Stamatiades is “a visionary whose legacy will
continue to deliver growth to our business for years to come,” he said.
