The death of a young New York woman from poisoned Tylenol and the discovery of a second bottle of cyanide-laced capsules in a nearby store is a bitter financial and corporate calamity for Tylenol`s manufacturerer, Johnson & Johnson. But unlike other companies caught in tragedies involving consumers, Johnson & Johnson has been quick to recognize the dimensions of the disaster, to respond openly about it and to take appropriate steps to contain damage to the public and to itself.
Johnson & Johnson has announced it will stop making and selling all its over-the-counter drugs in capsule form, replacing them with tablets and coated caplets which are more difficult to tamper with. It also is advertising an offer to exchange Tylenol capsules for caplets or tablets or refund their price.
This is an expensive decision for Johnson & Johnson. The company had worked hard to make Tylenol the leading brand of nonprescription pain-reliever and had managed to build it back up to a 37-percent share of the market after cyanide-poisoned Tylenol killed seven people in the Chicago area in 1982. That disaster cost Johnson & Johnson an estimated $100 million. Now the company can only hope to persuade its capsule customers to switch to tablets and caplets.
The company had no choice but to get Tylenol capsules off the market, for whatever reasons it was used by an unknown murderer or terrorist or mentally ill person to cause specific deaths or random killings. It was also appropriate for Johnson & Johnson to renew its offer of a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the poisoner.
As is often the case, the public and corporate interests here are the same. It is Johnson & Johnson`s achievement twice to have recognized that immediately and acted forthrightly to protect both.
