MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A jury hiked up penalties against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and its subsidiary Ethicon to more than $11 million after finding the companies liable in a patient injury lawsuit against the companies’ transvaginal mesh implants.

The jury on Thursday added about $7.76 million to a prior $3.35 award to patient Linda Gross, ruling that J&J and Ethicon failed to properly warn her physicians about the potential risks of transvaginal mesh implantation. Gross claimed the device left her with severe chronic pain that prevents her from working or even sitting.

J&J has promised to appeal the ruling, the 1st in a series of mesh complaints against the company.

J&J reported in its latest regulatory filing that it is facing about 4,000 plaintiffs with direct claims in pending lawsuits regarding pelvic mesh products. In the same filing J&J revealed that it’s under investigation by a 42-state coalition of attorneys general offices regarding marketing of the mesh products.

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