Recall of defective J&J hip implants
The Indian FDA has finally issued a recall for the defective J& J hip implants. This is good news, because affected patients can now be helped,However, the tragedy is that they have no way of identifying the patients who have received these defective hip implants . This is such a shame !When Mahindra and Mahindra needed to recall 900 defective cars, they could do so instantly, because they had details of all their dealers and their car owners ! Sadly , the Indian government has no way of tracking which patients still have these defective implants in situ.Shouldn't J&J have a list of all the affected patients, so th...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - December 14, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: defective hip joints dePuy hip implants & Source Type: blogs
There They Go Again, Again... - Johnson and Johnson Loses Two Civil Cases, Makes $2.5 Billion Settlement Based on Claims it Withheld Safety Data on its Products
There has been some talk by US government officials that any day now they will actually get tough on corporate executives whose organizations are involved in multiply unethical actions (perhaps using the legally valid, but massively neglected responsible corporate officer doctrine, look here). However, the march of legal settlements by such corporations continue without any hints of negative consequences for the people who might have actually been involved in unethical activity. So, we note another week, another multi-billion dollar settlement and another loss of a civil lawsuit by huge drug, device and biotech...
Source: Health Care Renewal - November 29, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: deception DePuy hip prostheses Janssen Johnson and Johnson legal settlements medical devices suppression of medical research Synthes Topamax Source Type: blogs
FAQ’s on Repealing the Medical Device Tax
When we previously reported on the IRS Medical Device Tax Final Rule in January 2013, we noted that there was growing bipartisan support in Congress to repeal the 2.3% tax. Republicans and Democrats are equally concerned about the effect the tax will have on innovation and job creation, particularly in states such as Massachusetts, Indiana, and Minnesota which are home to several large and small medical device manufacturers. Prior to the government shutdown, when the medical device tax took center stage in the legislative impasse, NPR reported that the tax is uniting political rivals in the U.S. House of Representatives an...
Source: Policy and Medicine - November 21, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Hippy Hippy Shake
WASHINGTON – Johnson & Johnson said late Tuesday that it will pay $2.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits brought by hip replacement patients who accuse the company of selling faulty implants that led to injuries and additional surgeries.The agreement presented in U.S. District Court in Toledo is one of the largest for the medical device industry.It resolves an estimated 8,000 cases of patients who had to have the company’s metal ball-and-socket hip implant removed or replaced.J&J pulled the implant from the market in 2010 after data showed it failed sooner than older implants.The deal provides roughly $25...
Source: PharmaGossip - November 20, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Orthopedic Implant Tattoo Payment System (CMS 1969-F) Described.
(HNN) The Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final final ruling on September 20th, 2013 [1969-F] updating fiscal year (FY) 2014 Medicare payment policies and rates under the Orthopedic Implant Tattoo Payment System. Beginning October 1st, 2013, all Medicare beneficiaries can request personalized orthopedic hip, knee and shoulder hardware with a custom engraved message of their choice. This surprising Medicare benefit was discovered by a White House intern last week on page 4,596 of the never before read Accountable Care Act during his daily 9 am to10 am ...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - September 22, 2013 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
Doctors Should Be Rewarded For Quality Care — Not For Cutting Corners
The current Medicare fee-for-service system has been criticized for rewarding practitioners in the health system for doing more -- more tests, more procedures, more expensive care -- that may not be beneficial. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) sets up new payment systems, including Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and bundled payment initiatives, that are intended to fix the problem by rewarding providers for reducing healthcare costs while maintaining quality.
But there’s a big potential problem that few health policy analysts have noted. The incentives to cut costs are strong, but the individual quality measures ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 19, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Jeffrey Binder Tags: All Categories Consumers Effectiveness Health Care Costs Health Law Health Reform Hospitals Medicare Payment Physicians Policy Technology Source Type: blogs
Trying to Burnish Its Image, Johnson & - Johnson Turns to Emotions
The company’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit recalled more than 280 million packages of over the counter medications like Motrin, children’s Tylenol liquid and Benadryl in 2010, and the same year, its DePuy Orthopedics unit recalled two popular artificial hip replacement models. About 10,000 lawsuits have been filed involving those artificial hip devices and while a Chicago jury this month rejected claims of wrongdoing by Johnson & Johnson in one suit, another lawsuit in March yielded a less favorable outcome when a Los Angeles jury ordered the company to pay more than $8.3 million in damages to a Montana...
Source: PharmaGossip - April 26, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
One all. 9,998 to go. J.&J. Prevails in Defending Its Marketing of Hip
Device
A jury in Chicago rejected claims on Tuesday that the orthopedics unit of Johnson & Johnson inappropriately marketed an artificial hip, which the company recalled in 2010.
The verdict came in the second trial of some 10,000 pending lawsuits involving the all-metal device, which was known as the Articular Surface Replacement, or A.S.R. In March, a jury in Los Angeles awarded $8.3 million in the first trial of an A.S.R.-related case.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/business/johnson-johnson-wins-case-on-artificial-hip.html?src=busln&_r=0 (Source: PharmaGossip)
Source: PharmaGossip - April 17, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Again!
J&J again recalls thousands of faulty hip implants
Johnson & Johnson has again recalled thousands of its hip implants, 2 1/2 years after the problem-plagued health care giant issued a recall of two other types of its artificial hips.
Spokeswomen for J&J's DePuy Orthopaedics unit said Thursday that the company recalled the "Adept" brand all-metal total hip replacement system starting last month because a higher-than-expected percentage of them had to be replaced. Such replacements, called revision surgeries, usually are needed when an artificial joints starts causing pain, difficulty walking or other problems.
The recall ...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 15, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Ben Goldacre in the NYT
Health Care’s Trick Coin
THIS month, Johnson & Johnson is facing more than 10,000 lawsuits over an artificial hip that has been recalled because of a 40 percent failure rate within five years. Mistakes happen in medicine, but internal documents showed that executives had known of flaws with the device for some time, but had failed to make them public.
It would be nice to imagine that this kind of behavior is exceptional, but in reality, the entire evidence base for medicine has been undermined by a casual lack of transparency. Sometimes this is through a failure to report concerns raised by doctors and internal analyse...
Source: PharmaGossip - February 2, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Call Andrew Ekdahl
During Trial, New Details Emerge About Hip Maker
When Johnson & Johnson announced the appointment in 2011 of an executive to head the troubled orthopedics division whose badly flawed artificial hip had been recalled, the company billed the move as a fresh start.
But that same executive, it turns out, had supervised the implant’s introduction in the United States and had been told by a top company consultant three years before the device was recalled that it was faulty.
In addition, the executive also held a senior marketing position at a time when Johnson & Johnson decided not to tell officials outside the United Stat...
Source: PharmaGossip - January 31, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Metal on metal hips - worse than expected
J.&J. Study Suggested Hip Device Could Fail in Thousands More
An internal analysis conducted by Johnson & Johnson in 2011 after it recalled a troubled hip implant projected that the all-metal device could fail within five years in nearly 40 percent of patients who received it, newly disclosed court records show.
The analysis, which the company has never released, suggests that thousands of additional patients may have to undergo painful procedures over the next few years to replace the implant, known as the Articular Surface Replacement, or A.S.R. It also indicates that the episode’s cost to Johnson & Johnson will cont...
Source: PharmaGossip - January 22, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
