Truncate issue for special character

Hi,
In my application i am showing group name in select box
while showing i am truncating name using following code
<%=truncate_html_strip_textual_wrap(group.name,40,28)%>

but for group ‘Friends from office “Neovasolutions”.’ it shows name in
drop down as a Friends from office & quote…
please reply me how to avoid such special character while truncating?