An Australian judge approved Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics’ lawsuit settlement, in which the company will pay between approximately $32,500 (A$31,000) and $68,200 (A$65,000) to each patient who received a defective knee implant.
J&J and DePuy recalled certain knee implants after receiving complaints of defects in 2009, prior to which more than 5,000 patients were treated with the implants in Australia, Bloomberg reported.
DePuy’s international unit will pay about $31,500 (A$30,000) to patients who needed revision surgery with no additional surgical procedures. Patients who required 2 or 3 additional surgical procedures after the knee revision surgery will receive $68,200 (A$65,000), Bloomberg noted.
The company also faces an Australian lawsuit over defective ASR hip implants, which DePuy Orthopaedics recalled in 2010 due to a high rate of revision surgeries.
DePuy Orthopaedics recently sought to dismiss a patient lawsuit against its ASR XL metal-on-metal hip implants on the grounds that the company warned of metal erosion and the potential need for revision surgery.
