A federal judge recently approved Philips paying $25 million to monitor and research the affects of its major respiratory devices recall.
The monitoring will occur over the next 15 years, according to the settlement approved Oct. 31 by U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti in western Pennsylvania. Conti is overseeing all federal lawsuits involving the Philips recall.
The settlement follows major agreements reached in April, in which Philips said it would pay $1.1 billion to settle personal injury claims and $613 million to cover economic losses.
There was also a finalized consent decree with the FDA and U.S. Department of Justice that included the discontinuation of certain CPAP lines and the option of remediation payments for recalled devices.
In mid-2021, Philips kicked off a recall that involved millions of CPAP and BiPAP ventilators and other respiratory devices. The devices — used for sleep apnea therapy and more — had sound abatement foam that could potentially degrade and get into the airways.
The Dutch medtech giant continues to work to resolve the recall. Since April 2021, the FDA has received 116,000 reports of problems — including 561 reports of deaths associated with the foam degradation issue. Philips has cut hundreds of Respironics jobs in Western Pennsylvania, and told suppliers it plans to outsource the manufacturing work to a contract manufacturer’s facility in Thailand.
