Endo International settles another clutch of AMS pelvic mesh cases

Endo International (NSDQ:ENDP) last week settled another batch of product liability lawsuits brought against subsidiary American Medical Systems Holdings over its pelvic mesh implants.

Last October the company agreed to put some 20,000 of the lawsuits to rest, saying it would increase the amount of money it had set aside to cover the claims from $1.2 billion to approximately $1.6 billion. In April 2014, Endo announced it reached agreements to settle up to approximately 21,700 additional mesh claims with separate plaintiffs’ law firms. In June 2013, it settled an undisclosed number of cases for $54.5 million.

Endo, which acquired AMS in 2011 for $2.9 billion, earlier this year agreed to sell the urology portion of that business to Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) for $1.65 billion.

Last week AMS said it and the plaintiffs in 167 of the cases settled all claims in the lawsuits, according to a filing with the U.S. District Court for Southern West Virginia, where Judge Joseph Goodwin is overseeing several multi-district litigations involving pelvic mesh products.

In 2008, the FDA notified transvaginal mesh manufacturers about reports of potential complications stemming from the devices. In 2012, the agency ordered AMS and other manufacturers to conduct post-market safety studies and monitor the rate at which adverse events were reported.

Tens of thousands of product liability lawsuits ensued, filed against pelvic mesh makers including several Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) divisions, C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR), Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), Coloplast (CPH:COLO B) and AMS. The devices are designed to treat female stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.