David Floyd

David Floyd is no longer the top man at DePuy Orthopaedics, leaving the Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary in the midst of a damaging recall of one of its hip replacement line that has already cost it nearly $1 billion in legal expenses.

DePuy Orthopaedics, the Warsaw, Ind.-based Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, said Floyd is leaving to pursue outside interests. No replacement has been named, according to MarketWatch.

Read more MassDevice.com coverage of DePuy Orthopaedics’ legal woes

Floyd was named president of division in Sept. 2007, after coming over from Abbott’s (NYSE:ABT) spine division. His arrival was accompanied by some fanfare due to his connections to Warsaw — Floyd was an executive at Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings (NYSE:ZMH) and went to college in the area, according to a 2007 article in the Journal Gazette.

“I think he’s going to be one of those truly charismatic leaders, and he’s going to rally the troops,” George Grobe III, DePuy’s former vice president of research, told the paper at the time.

While the company performed well during Floyd’s tenure, its fortunes began to change in August of last year after it initiated a massive recall of its ASR hip replacement system after receiving reports that a higher-than-normal number of patients required surgeries to correct or remove defective implants.

The company said it pulled its ASR XL Acetabular and ASR Hip Resurfacing systems from the market “due to the number of patients who required a second hip replacement procedure, called a revision surgery.”

Since then, numerous product liability lawsuits have piled up against DePuy, alleging that the company knew of design problems with the implants but failed to adequately warn physicians. DePuy introduced the ASR in the U.S. in 2005 after winning 510(k) clearance from the FDA.

Johnson & Johnson officials said the company paid nearly $1 billion in legal costs and settlements in 2010 related to the hip implant recall.