Word: contac
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...pain reliever, the crime seemed so horrible --so peculiarly horrible--that it was hard to believe it would ever be repeated. And yet it has been, again and again. Last February tainted Tylenol capsules killed a Peekskill, N.Y., woman. A month later traces of rat poison were found in Contac cold capsules and Teldrin allergy medication in Houston and Orlando. Two weeks ago, medical investigators discovered that two residents of Auburn, Wash., had died as a result of swallowing toxic Excedrin capsules. Bristol-Myers quickly pulled Excedrin capsules off the market nationwide, but last week Auburn's cyanide scare spread...
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...
...company says that Contac will be back on the market this fall. The new capsules will have a transparent coat and will be sealed with red gelatin, which will make it more difficult for anyone to tamper with them. For those who are still wary, Contac will also be available for the first time in elongated tablets called caplets...
...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...