J&J recalling certain lots of drugs after theft

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday it was voluntarily recalling specific lots of three of its medicines to protect patients from receiving potentially mishandled or damaged products after a truck carrying the drugs was stolen.

The truck, which was stolen earlier this month while en route from a distribution center in Kentucky to a specialty distributor, was carrying the anemia treatment Procrit, the rheumatoid arthritis drug Remicade and the cancer medicine Doxil.

The theft was reported to local and federal law enforcement offices, as well as to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the transport trailer and products have not been recovered, the company said.

J&J units Centocor and Ortho Biotech have recalled just the products with lot numbers that match those that were on the stolen truck.

"If the stolen product were to be reintroduced into distribution channels, the companies cannot guarantee that products were stored at appropriate temperatures, nor can the companies guarantee the products were not damaged," J&J said in a statement.

"A voluntary withdrawal of products with lot numbers corresponding to that of the stolen product minimizes the possibility of inadvertent use of stolen product by physicians and, therefore, the overall risk to patients," it said.

The amount of stolen and withdrawn product represents a very small proportion of the total product within the distribution channel, J&J said, adding that it does not expect a disruption in product availability for patients.

The companies discontinued shipment of products with lot numbers matching the stolen products on May 7.

Health-care providers and patients who received those drugs from an authorized distributor on or before May 7 should consider the product safe for use, J&J said.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot, editing by Maureen Bavdek)