This was predictable. Last month, Johnson & Johnson disclosed that the US Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia sent grand jury subpoenas about the vast and ongoing recall of millions of bottles of over-the-counter pediatric medicines by its McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit. Now, J&J has also received Civil Investigative Demands from multiple state Attorneys General Offices relating to the same issues.

The health care giant disclosed the latest blow to its battered reputation in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (see page 33). The federal and state probes follow comments from FDA officials that a criminal inquiry was warranted and a Congressional committee investigation that embarassed Johnson & Johnson with the disclosure of what one Congressman called a ‘phantom recall.’

That extraordinary effort was apparently undertaken to minimize the extent of quality control problems at McNeil’s Fort Washington, Pa., plant - which is now shuttered indefinitely - and another plant in Puerto Rico by surreptiously sending contractors to buy damaged products from stores in what company execs tried to downplay as a ‘retrieval’ (see here and here). Meanwhile, 300 of 400 plant workers are losing their jobs (back story), although J&J continues to remain silent on whether any McNeil execs - who work at the same location - are among those being shown the door. Maybe that’s just a matter of time?