The Business Journal by Jeff Engel, Reporter
A legally troubled Hartland pharmaceutical company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday.
Affiliated companies H&P Industries Inc. and Triad Group Inc. filed separate voluntary bankruptcy petitions. H&P is the manufacturing arm and Triad the distributor of the companies’ products, which include over-the-counter drugs and alcohol wipes.
The listed creditors have unsecured claims against the two companies totaling more than $33 million. The largest include product liability claims brought forth by individuals for as much as $7.5 million, a $3.2 million disputed claim from Florida-based customer Smith and Nephew Wound Mgmt. and a $2.2 million disputed claim from Ohio-based customer Cardinal Health.
H&P and Triad have come under intense federal and legal scrutiny over the past couple of years. H&P has voluntarily recalled several products since December 2010, including because of bacterial contamination.
A Texas couple this year settled their lawsuit against H&P and Triad over the companies’ wipes, from which the parents said their toddler contracted the bacterial infection that killed him, according to an NBC News report. The report said at least 10 lawsuits nationwide have claimed that contaminated H&P and Triad products have caused serious infections, sicknesses or deaths.
In April 2011, U.S. Marshals seized more than $6 million in products held at the Hartland facility, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration filed a consent decree in June 2011 to stop the companies from manufacturing and distributing product until production problems were resolved.
The companies had complied with the consent decree as of January, according to a letter posted on the FDA website.
The lawyer for H&P and Triad could not be immediately reached for comment.
