Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is, reportedly, planning to agree for a $250m settlement to put an end to lawsuits over its ASR hip implants.
Sources familiar with the development were cited by Bloomberg as saying the company intends to resolve over 1,000 lawsuits involving removals of the recalled hip implants, which happened after August 2013.
The $250m is in addition to the $2.5bn, which was paid by the company last year against similar claims, according to the sources. J&J’s DePuy unit had manufactured the hips.
The firm plans to apply the same settlement terms, which were followed for the cases that were settled earlier.
J&J paid an average of about $250,000 per surgery and in total covered medical costs of around 8,000 cases, earlier.
In August 2010, J&J and DePuy recalled 93,000 ASR hip implants across the globe. The implant was first sold in the US in 2005.
The news publication also reported that DePuy spokeswoman Mindy Tinsley has declined to comment on the settlement, calling it as speculative.
According to an August filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company faced a total of 12,700 hip lawsuits filed or consolidated in federal and state courts in Ohio, California, Illinois and New Jersey, before the settlement.
Image: J&J headquarters at One Johnson & Johnson Plaza in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Photo: courtesy of Nikopoley.