Qld: Herron launches tamper evident capsules

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2000
Qld: Herron launches tamper evident capsules

By Debra Nowland

BRISBANE, Aug 3 AAP - Pharmaceutical company Herron today launched new tamper-evident
paracetamol capsules five months after a poisoning scare sparked a nationwide recall which
cost the company millions of dollars.

Herron chief executive Euan Murdoch had vowed never to return to the marketplace with
two-piece capsules because "they get pulled apart" and were vulnerable to tampering.

But he said huge consumer demand for capsules had prompted the company to spend $1
million to research ways of making the product as tamper proof as possible.

Mr Murdoch said the new "capseals" manufactured in the United States used "the most
tamper evident delivery system in the world today".

"I can't guarantee it won't occur ... but certainly I'm saying the packaging is the
most tamper evident of this type of product in the world," he said.

Herron Capseals are 33 per cent smaller than ordinary capsules and are made with a
solid core of paracetamol, encased in a two-piece gelatin shell which is then shrunk and
seamlessly sealed.

The new product has been evaluated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to
ensure it meets safety and quality requirements for over-the-counter medicines.

Mr Murdoch said consumers would pay $2.80, an extra 40c, for each tamper proof packet
of 24, which are now available on some supermarket shelves.

"They are more expensive and that's a direct consequence of this extortion," he said.

The Herron recall followed the hospitalisation of Brisbane doctor Ken Pullen and his
teenage son, David, with strychnine poisoning after consuming Herron paracetamol capsules.

A wide range of Herron-made products were recalled on March 16 after the poisoning
and an apparent extortion attempt.

Despite an intensive police investigation and a $250,000 reward posted by the company,
no-one has been charged.

"Certainly I'd be a lot happier if he or she had been apprehended but that's beyond
our control obviously," Mr Murdoch said of the police investigation.

"It's a particularly difficult crime to catch."

Herron holds 20 per cent of the Australian headache pill market and has historically
been placed second behind Panadol in the market place.

AAP dn/jhm/mk/bwl

KEYWORD: HERRON (WITH PIX)

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