The New Jersey Supreme Court approved a bid this week to consolidate state court lawsuits against Stryker (NYSE:SYK) over an allegedly defective hip replacement device.
The company faces a barrage of lawsuits regarding its Lfit cobalt-chromium v40 femoral heads, including that the product corrodes when connected to a component part, which can necessitate corrective surgery.
In a notice published earlier this week, the Supreme Court granted an application to designate all ongoing and future actions involving Stryker’s Howmedica Osteonics Corp. and the hip device as multicounty litigation.
Last year, Stryker issued an urgent medical device recall notice regarding the Lfit v40 femoral heads. The company said it has received a number of complaints about the product, including that the recalled devices may cause loss of mobility, adverse local tissue reactions, dislocations and joint instability.
The medical device maker slimly topped expectations on Wall Street with its 1st quarter earnings results in April.
The Kalamazoo, Mich.-based company posted profits of $444 million, or $1.17 per share, on sales of $2.96 billion for the 3 months ended March 31. That equates to bottom-line growth of 10.4% while sales grew 18.4% compared with the same period last year.
After adjusting to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $1.48, just ahead of the $1.43 consensus on The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $2.9 billion.
