DePuy ASR hip developer deposed for questioning
Dr. Thomas Schmalzried, 1 of the primary developers of the troubled ASR hip implants DePuy Orthopaedics recalled last year, was deposed for questioning alongside a group of executives from the Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary as part of ongoing legal proceedings against the device maker.
Schmalzried, a consultant for DePuy, took home more than $2.4 million in "royalty income for intellectual property and/or product development" in 2010 and 2011, according to DePuy’s website.
The lawsuit accuses him of assisting in DePuy’s marketing efforts, promoting the devices to his peers and publishing papers that were later used by DePuy sales teams to defer safety concerns raised by other orthopedic surgeons, according to a press release.
Further depositions are slated for March to May. Those deposed have been asked to produce documents, notes, outlines, presentation materials, testimonies and oral proposals related to the case, according to the release.
Schmalzried joins a clutch of DePuy executives, including the company’s director of strategic engineering, vice president of regulatory affairs and vice president of worldwide clinical affairs, in being deposed for the lawsuit. Legal eagles expect the recall to become the costliest ever, potentially reaching the $1 billion mark. Read more
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