In an attempt to bury bad news late in the day, Johnson & Johnson this evening released a brief statement saying it does not anticipate having any supplies of the various pediatric over-the-counter medicines that were made its Fort Washington, Pa., plant. The facility, you may recall, was recently shutdown amid FDA scrutiny of various quality-control problems and a subsequent Congressional investigation (background here, here, here and here).

The healthcare giant’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit doesn’t expect most of the meds, which include Tylenol and Motrin for youngsters, to become available before the end of the 2010. Some adult OTC products are also affected by the situation, although the “majority” of McNeil’s US OTC business is not affected by the ongoing manufacturing suspension at the plant.

Plans have not yet been finalized for resuming production, but meanwhile, a few hundred million dollars in sales will be lost; the average annual sales of the products made at this plant over the last three years were about $650 million, according to J&J. Last year, J&J consumer sales were $4.2 billion out of $16.5 billion total salesl worldwide (see statement).

UPDATE: On Friday, June 25, Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise lowered his J&J estimate 2010 sales estimates by $1.2 billion to reflect both the supply problems and the decreased value of the Euro.