Encaprin

Encaprin is a defunct brand of coated aspirin[1] made by Procter & Gamble in the mid-1980s.[2]

In 1986 a hoax was started by an anonymous source, after an unidentified caller phoned Procter & Gamble claiming he had placed cyanide-filled capsules of Encaprin in pharmacies in Chicago and Detroit, leading many stores, including Walgreens, to remove the product from their shelves. Advisory cautions were issued although many assumed it was a hoax from the beginning.[3]

Encaprin returned to Walgreens, Kroger supermarkets and SuperX drug stores' shelves in April 1986,[4] but the OTC drug did not recover its sales and was quietly retired.[5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1994-04-10/painkillers-are-about-to-o-dot-d-dot
  2. ↑ "Release of New Pain Reliever Spurs Analgesics Marketing War". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles). June 17, 1994.
  3. ↑ "Two chain stores halt sales of Encaprin after a threat". The New York Times (Cincinnati). Associated Press. March 28, 1986.
  4. ↑ "P&G Says Encaprin Not Poisoned". AP News Archive (Cincinnati). Associated Press. April 5, 1986.
  5. ↑ "Retired Drugs: Failed Blockbusters, Homicidal Tampering, Fatal Oversights". Wired.com. October 1, 2008.