Word: contac
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After an ingredient used in rat poison turned up in some of its pills, SmithKline Beckman last March recalled all its Contac cold-remedy capsules (1985 sales: $55 million). The episode came soon after a Peekskill, N.Y., woman died from taking a cyanide-laced Tylenol capsule. The decision to remove Contac from the market cost SmithKline $8 million...
...Contac capsules have helped millions of Americans endure the sniffles, but last week every store in the U.S. that carried the popular cold remedy was ordered to get it off the shelves. Manufacturer SmithKline Beckman of Philadelphia was forced to recall Contac and two other fast-selling encapsulated products, the antihistamine Teldrin, for allergies, and Dietac, for appetite control...
...reason was familiar and chilling: a murderous blackmailer intent on intimidating a corporation by poisoning its products. A man calling himself Gary telephoned ABC News claiming he had placed 25 tainted Contac capsules in stores throughout the country. ABC Anchor Peter Jennings tipped off SmithKline while judiciously holding the story off the air. The next day, SmithKline got more calls, apparently from the same man. All capsules were unsafe, he said, and he wanted to get them off the shelves...
...stopped short of a recall, telling retailers only to stop selling the drugs until further notice and warning consumers against using any of the capsules purchased after March 15. At week's end, however, laboratory tests found nonlethal doses of warfarin, an anticoagulant used in rat poison, in two Contac and three Teldrin capsules. SmithKline was frightened into acting. Said Company President Henry Wendt: "Between his claims about cyanide and the findings of warfarin, we feel we didn't have a choice...
...that persuaded Johnson & Johnson to stop making capsules altogether and to reissue the remedy in a tamper-resistant "caplet" form. Whether SmithKline will also abandon capsules was not clear. Unlike Tylenol, the SmithKline products are "time-release" medicines, which break down slowly and work best in capsule form. Besides, Contac accounts for some $50 million in SmithKline's sales, half of its over-the-counter drug business. Despite the drug's wide popularity, it could conceivably fall victim to a single unbalanced terrorist...