Update on children’s products, June 24, 2010
Dear Healthcare Professional:
We would like to provide you with an update on our infants’ and children’s liquid over-the-counter (OTC) medicines that were recalled on April 30, 2010.
You and your patients may have noticed that infants’ and children’s liquid products from TYLENOL® and MOTRIN®, and children’s liquid products from ZYRTEC® are currently not available in stores. Since ensuring the quality of our medicines is our top priority, we are conducting a comprehensive quality review across our manufacturing operations and have identified corrective actions that we will take before we begin manufacturing again at the plant where the recalled medicines were made. Unfortunately, this means we do not anticipate having sources of supply for most of these medicines before the end of the year. We hope you and your patients will accept our sincere apology for the inconvenience and concern this may cause.
We are notifying parents and caregivers, via email and our product Web sites, about this supply situation and informing them that there are a number of other OTC medicines intended for infants and children that are available. We are instructing parents and caregivers to talk to their doctor, pharmacist or other healthcare provider about which alternate medicines are appropriate for their infants or children. We continue to inform parents and caregivers about the importance of always reading and following the label on OTC medicines before use, and we are reinforcing the message that they should not give medicines to infants and children that are not intended for those age groups, as this could result in serious harm.
With respect to pediatric TYLENOL® products for children ages 2 and above, there are other TYLENOL® options available. These include Children’s TYLENOL® Meltaways chewable tablets (for children ages 2 to 6), and Junior Strength TYLENOL® Meltaways chewable tablets (for children ages 6 to 11). You or your patients can use the Product Locator at www.Tylenol.com to help you find these products.
We hope this update will be helpful to you and your patients. Please visit www.tylenolprofessional.com or www.zyrtecprofessional.com for updated information, or call our Health Care Professional line at 866-948-6883. A full list of affected products is available to the public at www.mcneilproductrecall.com. We appreciate your patience as we work hard to return these medicines to the market.
Sincerely,
