Content about chemical

BOULDER, Colo. — Goddess Garden Organics — the makers of organic sunscreens for adults, kids and babies — has debuted a Continuous Spray Natural Sunscreen, which, according to the company, is the only all-natural, chemical-free continuous spray sunscreen on the market today.

NEW YORK — The Food and Drug Administration is allowing Roche to tap its reserves of the flu drug Tamiflu, according to published reports.

Reuters reported that the Swiss drug maker would start selling its reserve stock of the adult formulation of the drug, whose chemical name is oseltamivir.

The FDA has reported spot shortages of the pediatric formulation of the drug, but has said pharmacists can break open the capsules and dissolve it in liquid to create a substitute. Meanwhile, a shortage of the adult formulation has appeared in Canada.

WASHINGTON — Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., on Wednesday introduced the Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act, a bill that will protect consumers by providing the Drug Enforcement Administration with new enforcement tools to identify and quickly respond when new designer anabolic steroids are created and marketed as dietary supplements.

MINNEAPOLIS — Ladibugs on Tuesday announced the launch of its Ladibugs Hair Care — a chemical-free head lice product line — through more than 1,000 Great Clips locations.

QUINCY, Mass. — Ahold's 756 stores in the Northeast will no longer carry a beef filler product that has attracted significant controversy among consumers lately.

Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover and Giant-Carlisle simultaneously announced that they would no longer purchase ground beef containing finely textured beef, which often is derided as "pink slime" due to its pink color and viscous texture.

NEW YORK — The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science partnership has announced the five women scientists from around the world who will receive the 2012 L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards in Life Sciences.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — As rising costs eat into margins, personal care marketers are reducing marketing expenditures, integrating their supply chain and consolidating distribution for improved efficiency, according to findings of recent research from Kline & Co.

According to the research firm’s “Personal Care: U.S. Competitor Cost Structures 2011” report, costs of goods sold — which includes raw materials, packaging, processing and overhead — have increased on average to claim 11.1% of the net sales total in 2011, compared with 10.6% in 2009.

HYDERABAD, India — The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning letter to Dr. Reddy’s Labs’ chemical manufacturing plant in Mexico, the company said Tuesday.

The drug maker said Dr. Reddy’s subsidiary Industrias Quimicas Falcon de Mexico, in Cuernavaca, received an FDA warning letter based on a November 2010 inspection where the regulatory agency found a number of manufacturing problems.

Dr. Reddy’s said it takes the warnings seriously and will respond to the FDA and work with the agency to resolve the problems.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Joseph Mercola, a doctor that is board-certified in family medicine and trained in both traditional and natural medicine, has introduced a new bath care line that is made from certified U.S. Department of Agriculture organic oils and extracts.

HIGH WYCOMBE, United Kingdom — A subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson is recalling several batches of an HIV drug after reports of a strange odor that may have come from the shipping pallets.

Janssen-Cilag International said it would recall five lots of Prezista (darunavir) due to consumer reports of a musty or moldy smell coming from them. The odor is believed to result from traces of the chemical TBA, which is used in the construction of the pallets. The recalled lots were found in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and Austria.

Fred’s last year migrated its more than 300 pharmacies to a more convenient front-of-store position in an effort to boost pharmacy revenue — and it worked. Fred’s 2010 pharmacy sales growth of 4.8% outpaced the discounter’s overall sales growth of 3% for the year. At the time Fred’s began executing against the pharmacy makeover, the company reported that test stores featuring front-of-store pharmacies enjoyed 20% higher sales per square foot as compared with the company’s average.


NEW YORK — Pfizer is recalling a painkiller drug it acquired when it bought King Pharmaceuticals due to problems with a chemical used to deter drug abuse, according to a published report.

Reuters reported that Pfizer had recalled supplies of Embeda (morphine sulfate and naltrexone hydrochloride) because the chemical that prevents the drug from being ground up or dissolved by drug abusers — naltrexone — had deteriorated in samples of the drug that Pfizer had tested.

The drug has sales of less than $70 million per year, according to Reuters.