Health care product giant Johnson & Johnson is adding to its growing list of recalls this year – a new one involving more than a dozen different Mylanta and AlternaGEL over-the-counter gastrointestinal meds. This latest drug development stems from a labeling omission, similar to last week’s Tylenol Cold recall.
J&J said the actions were taken because the presence of small amounts of alcohol from flavoring agents was not noted on product packaging, and pulled millions of bottles of over-the-counter heartburn and stomach medicines from drugstore shelves. The company is recalling 12 million bottles of Mylanta and nearly 85,000 bottles of its AlternaGel liquid antacid.
Over the past year, more than 200 million bottles of Johnson & Johnson products have been recalled, Reuters reports, including 9 million bottles of Tylenol last week due to the same alcohol labeling issue.
The most recent recalls appear to be prompted by the company’s review of its manufacturing processes, which in turn was prompted by the massive children’s drug recall in May.
The brands are manufactured as part of a 50/50 joint venture with Merck & Co, formed to develop and make non-prescription drugs primarily derived from Merck’s prescription drugs.
