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J&J pulls heartburn drug
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March 23, 2000: 5:46 p.m. ET
Company to limit access to medication after links to fatal heart rhythms
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Johnson & Johnson said Thursday it would no longer market its prescription heartburn medication Propulsid in the United States, after the drug was linked to fatal heart rhythms in some users.
Since the drug was approved in 1993, reports surfaced that some patients suffered heart rhythm abnormalities. In some cases, the patients died.
The company said the drug would remain available on a "limited access" basis for people for whom there is no other effective treatment.
Johnson & Johnson, whose Janssen Pharmaceutica subsidiary manufactures the pills, previously has issued warnings to doctors to be cautious when prescribing the drug. But the company said Thursday that despite these warnings, inappropriate use has continued in the United States.
"Janssen and the FDA now believe the best way to address this situation is to limit access to the medication, while ensuring that appropriate patients who have exhausted other treatment options can still benefit from it," the company said in a statement. "Propulsid remains safe and effective for the vast majority of patients when used according to the approved prescribing information."
Propulsid, known generically as cisapride, is usually prescribed for nighttime heartburn.
Shares of New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J (JNJ: Research, Estimates), a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, slipped 2-1/4 to 80 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Janssen Pharmaceutica is based in Beerse, Belgium, with U.S. headquarters in Titusville, N.J. 
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Johnson & Johnson
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