Stryker inks $1B+ deal to settle hip implant cases
November 3, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Stryker today inked a deal to settle thousands of corporate law firm liability lawsuits over a pair of recalled metal-on-metal hip implants for more than $1 billion.
The deal was announced today by Judge Donovan Frank of the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, where Frank is overseeing some 1,800 lawsuits filed over Stryker’s Rejuvenate and ABGII devices. A state judge in New Jersey, Judge Brian Martinotti of the New Jersey Superior Court for Bergen County, is overseeing another 2,100 similar lawsuits. Read more
Boston Scientific faces federal mesh trials today
November 3, 2014 by MassDevice
Boston Scientific today faces its 1st federal trials in 2 courts over claims from women who say they were injured by its transvaginal mesh devices.
One, in Charleston, W.Va., involves allegations from 4 women over the company’s Obtryx device, used to treat stress urinary incontinence. The other, in Miami, concerns women implanted with the Pinnacle, which treats pelvic organ prolapse. Read more
Defense opens in Boston Scientific pelvic mesh trial
November 4, 2014 by Brad Perriello
A lawyer representing 4 women in Miami federal court who say they were injured by Boston Scientific’s transvaginal mesh yesterday accused the company of ignoring patient safety in its haste to get the devices on the market.
“They set a priority that should never exist inside a medical device company – speed as No. 1,” said plaintiffs’ lawyer Jim Perdue during opening arguments in the trial, which is 1 of 2 that began yesterday. Read more
Biotronik settles kickbacks case for $5m
November 7, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Federal prosecutors yesterday said Biotronik agreed to pony up $4.9 million, but admitted no wrongdoing, to settle allegations that it ran a kickbacks scheme to induce physicians to use its cardiac rhythm management devices.
The allegations, made in a qui tam lawsuit filed by former Biotronik employee Brian Sant, include charges that the company paid doctors in Nevada and Arizona to either continue to use or to convert to using Biotronik pacemakers, defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, according to a press release. Read more
