Savvy Thakur
Published on: 02 December 2022 at 20:01 IST
The Bombay High Court concluded that Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder manufactured at the company’s Mulund facility in Maharashtra met legal quality standards.
Based on three sealed laboratory reports presented to them, a division bench comprised of Justices SV Gangapurwala and SG Chapalgaonkar made the observation.
On November 16, the Court ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to send baby powder samples from the Mulund facility to three different labs for analysis.
Four samples were sent to three labs, and the high court received a report on each one.
The Court made the following observations after reading the reports:
- The FDA laboratory’s report from the Bandra-Kurla Complex stated that the sample met the legal requirement;
- The report of the Intratech Laboratory (private lab) stated that the reading was not stable as per the procedure;
- The Western Zone Central Drug Testing Laboratory’s report also stated that the sample met the specifications.
Senior Advocate Ravi Kadam, showing up for Johnson and Johnson, expressed that since the reports showed that the example followed the legal necessities, the organization should be allowed to sell their item. The counsel further asked the Court to permit the sale of baby powder.
However, the Court stated that it would wait to make a decision until it heard from Additional Government Pleader Milind More.
The Court did not give in to Kadam’s request and insisted that the business would not be allowed to sell or distribute its baby powder till the next hearing date.
On December 6, the case will be heard again.
The Court was hearing a request recorded by Johnson and Johnson testing the wiping out of surface level assembling permit of its child powder office in Maharashtra.
The petition noted that the company’s license had been revoked by an order from the Joint Commissioner & Licensing Authority, FDA, Maharashtra, on September 15 and would no longer be valid until December 15, 2022.
After reviewing the order five days later, the commissioner ordered the company to immediately cease manufacturing and selling the baby powder produced at a facility in Mulund, Maharashtra. Resultantly, the company filed the plea before the High Court.