MONOCRYL (poliglecaprone 25 ) Suture, Ethicon Inc., A Johnson & Johnson Company, Somerville, NJ Sutures are intended for general soft tissue approximation and/or ligation.

Sterility Issue: The firm decided to remove the product because it cannot assure the sterility of the products due to a failure in the sterilization process.

Urgent Voluntary Product Recall notification letters were sent via UPS Next Day Air with receipt on February 2, 2009. Letters were sent to customers, Directors of Surgical Services, Director of Risk Management, Materials Manager and Distributors. The letters requested that customers immediately discontinue use of the products with lot numbers listed. Customers are to identify and return only the boxes identified in the attached tables. The affected product should be returned to Ethicon via the pre-paid authorized shipping label. Customers that are not returning affected product should mail the enclosed business reply card to Ethicon. Customers should direct questions regarding this recall to 1-888-202-3694 or their Ethicon sales representative. 5/13/09: It was discovered that a lot of PDS II sutures that had been previously identified as affected but not distributed, were mistakenly distributed. Revised letters including this number were sent to 25 customers on 5/13/09.