BUSINESS BRIEF
Medical device maker OKs $2.5 billion hip deal
11/19/2013Johnson & Johnson said late Tuesday that it will pay $2.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits brought by hip replacement patients who accuse the company of selling faulty implants that led to injuries and additional surgeries.
The agreement, presented in U.S. District Court in Toledo, is one of the largest for the medical device industry. It resolves an estimated 8,000 cases of patients who had to have the company’s metal ball-and-socket hip implant, Articular Surface Replacement, removed or replaced. J&J pulled the implant from the market in 2010 after data showed it failed sooner than older implants.
The deal provides roughly $250,000 per patient and covers those who had their implants removed or replaced before Aug. 31 this year.
The artificial hip, the Articular Surface Replacement, was sold for eight years. J&J of New Brunswick, N.J. stopped making the product in 2009 and recalled it the next year.