DuPuy Reaches $2.5 Bln Deal To Compensate Revision Patients 2013
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November 19, 2013
Health care giant Johnson & Johnson Co.’s ( JNJ ) medical-device unit DePuy
Orthopaedics, Inc., announced Tuesday that it has reached a $2.5 billion
settlement to compensate patients in the U.S. who were subject to a second
surgery, known as revision surgery, to replace their recalled DePuy ASR Hip
system.
More than 12,000 thousand lawsuits were filed by patients against DePuy in
federal and state courts related to the recall of its hip-implant products. The
lawsuits were filed by implantees who have suffered metallosis, premature device
failure, and other serious complications allegedly caused by the metal-on-metal
hip devices recalled in 2010.
In August 2010, DePuy Orthopaedics issued a voluntary recall of its ASR XL
Acetabular Hip System and DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System after receiving new,
then-unpublished data from a joint replacement registry in the UK.
The DePuy unit recalled 93,000 implants in 2010, including 37,000 in the U.S.
The recall meant that ASR implantees had to undergo a revision surgery, which
caused the patients a loss of time, money and a lot of pain. It is said to have
already spent nearly $1 billion on testing and treatment costs related to the
recall.