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After the Chicago poisonings, which caused Tylenol's share of the pain- killer market to plunge from 35% to 7%, Johnson & Johnson staged what industry experts called a "miracle" comeback. The company spent an estimated $300 million to recall 31 million old packages of Tylenol capsules and promote new ones that were "triple sealed" to resist tampering. Now the company must restore confidence yet again. It will not be easy: the poisoned woman's mother described the plan to withdraw capsules from the market as "three years too late."
Even so, many consumers feel sympathy for the manufacturer, and investors have been impressed by the company's decisiveness. Said Robert Benezra, who follows the drug industry for the investment firm Alex Brown & Sons: "Johnson & Johnson acted responsibly in the interest of the public's safety. That's how the consumers see it." The company's stock price went up 1 1/2 points last week, to 49, in contrast to a fall of 5 3/4 during the week after the poisoning. Investors generally believe that Johnson & Johnson (1985 revenues: $6.4 billion) has the financial wherewithal to preserve Tylenol's position as the best-selling nonprescription pain reliever. During 1985, the brand held a 34% share of the $1.6 billion market. The company's debts are low, and it holds a cash reserve of some $800 million.
The method, the motive and the culprit behind the latest poisoning all remain a mystery. The FDA has examined almost 500,000 Tylenol capsules from across the U.S. for evidence of cyanide, but has turned up nothing since Feb. 13, when investigators found cyanide in a second bottle of capsules, taken from a store just a few blocks from where the fatal package was sold in Bronxville, N.Y.
As Johnson & Johnson's nightmare began to subside last week, another company's may have begun. Consumers in several states, including Florida, Georgia and Maryland, claimed to have found bits of broken glass in Gerber baby food and fruit juice. Local and federal authorities began trying to confirm the incidents to determine whether any pattern existed. But FDA officials suspected that if glass was indeed found in the Gerber containers, ) it was the result of jars that chipped during shipment rather than a rash of copycat mayhem.