7.2 Midterm Exam: Tylenol- A Management Analysis
- Due No due date
- Points 150
- Questions 9
- Time Limit None
- Allowed Attempts Unlimited
Instructions
For your midterm, you'll analyze Johnson and Johnson.
1. Read the following case study.
2. Use your Powerpoints, notes, text, and online research (if needed) to answer the questions.
1982 Chicago Tylenol Murders
In the fall of 1982, Johnson & Johnson faced a public relations nightmare when customers in Cook
County, Illinois, began dying—eventually, a total of seven people died—after taking over-the-counter,
Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules. Analysis showed the presence of potassium cyanide, a fatal
poison in no way connected with the production of the pill. Johnson & Johnson voluntarily removed all
Tylenol products from the U.S. marketplace and offered to pay full retail price for any pills returned to the
company. This represented about thirty million bottles of capsules worth more than $100 million.
(Significantly, too, Johnson & Johnson decided on this wide-ranging action despite the fact that it and law
enforcement realized the cyanide poisoning was limited to Cook County, Illinois.)
In the fall of 1982, Johnson & Johnson faced a public relations nightmare when customers in Cook
County, Illinois, began dying—eventually, a total of seven people died—after taking over-the-counter,
Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules. Analysis showed the presence of potassium cyanide, a fatal
poison in no way connected with the production of the pill. Johnson & Johnson voluntarily removed all
Tylenol products from the U.S. marketplace and offered to pay full retail price for any pills returned to the
company. This represented about thirty million bottles of capsules worth more than $100 million.
(Significantly, too, Johnson & Johnson decided on this wide-ranging action despite the fact that it and law
enforcement realized the cyanide poisoning was limited to Cook County, Illinois.)
Because Tylenol was a flagship product bringing in significant revenue, this was an extreme action but
one based on the company’s ethics, rooted in its corporate credo. Investigation showed that someone
had tinkered with the bottles and injected cyanide into the product in stores. Although no one was ever
apprehended, the entire drug industry responded, following Johnson & Johnson’s lead, by introducing
tamper-proof containers that warned consumers not to use the product if the packaging appeared in any
way compromised.
2018 Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder Controversy:
A Los Angeles jury ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), opens new tab to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died from mesothelioma, finding the company liable in the latest trial alleging its talc products cause cancer.
The family of Mae Moore, a California resident who died at age 88 in 2021, sued the company the same year, claiming J&J's talc baby powder products contained asbestos fibers that caused her rare cancer. The jury late on Monday ordered J&J to pay $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages, according to court filings.
In October 2019, a study published in the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry found that children with the highest levels of acetaminophen metabolites in their blood at birth had the highest risk of the developmental disorders.
According to additional research published in the European Journal of Epidemiology in June 2021, children exposed to Tylenol during pregnancy were 19% more likely to have autism spectrum disorders and 21% more likely to have ADHD symptoms compared to non-exposed children.
Due to the potential acetaminophen pregnancy risks, researchers from Columbia University warned that doctors should re-evaluate the role of the pain medication for pregnant women in 2020, after finding that prenatal exposure may lead to impaired neurodevelopment in the fetus.
2022 Tylenol Autism and ADHD Lawsuit Update
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) heard oral arguments over whether to centralize all acetaminophen autism and ADHD lawsuits on September 29, 2022, and rejected arguments by the drug manufacturers and retailers, who opposed the creation of a federal MDL (multidistrict litigation).
In a transfer order issued on October 5, 2022, the MDL panel decided to centralize and consolidate all current and future Tylenol autism lawsuits and Tylenol ADHD lawsuits before Senior U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in the Southern District of New York, for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.
While the Tylenol lawsuits over ADHD and autism will be managed in a manner similar to a class action lawsuit, each claim will remain an individual action and if Tylenol settlements are not reached following discovery and a series of early bellwether trials, each individual case may later be remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it was originally filed for a separate trial date.
Throughout 2023, it is expected that thousands of families will step forward to file a lawsuit against Tylenol or other acetaminophen manufacturers.
2023 J&J Spinoff Kenvue Defeats Suits Alleging Tylenol Causes Autism
Published : December 20, 2023
Ref: Financial Post
- Johnson & Johnson's Kenvue spinoff will not have to face lawsuits alleging prenatal exposure to over-the-counter painkiller Tylenol caused autism after a judge rejected the scientific evidence behind the cases, as reported in the Financial Post.
- US District Judge Denise Cote concluded that plaintiffs in more than 400 suits accusing Kenvue and other makers and sellers of acetaminophen relied on flawed science in seeking to prove an increased risk of developmental issues in babies. The ruling effectively kills a consolidation of the cases before Cote.
- The decision is a relief for Kenvue investors, who were bracing for the newly public company to face years of costly litigation over claims Tylenol was one of the causes of autism.
- Kenvue hailed Cote's ruling, saying the judge relied on the FDA's guidance that Tylenol doesn’t cause autism or other ailments.
- "These lawsuits have created confusion on the safety of one of the most studied medications in history," commented company spokeswoman Melissa Witt.
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