A Los Angeles jury has awarded $8.3 million to a Montana man who sued Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics on claims he was injured by the company’s now-recalled ASR (Articular Surface Replacement) XL metal hip implant, according to a New York Times report.
The jury did not award any punitive damages. This is the first of more than 10,000 lawsuits pending against the company related to the ASR implant, which was recalled in mid-2010.
There are a number of reasons why private equity interest in medical devices has waned in recent years (as discussed in prior The Healthcare Investor posts). Although suits like these can also have a chilling effect, there are still private equity funds that remain interested and focused on medical device opportunities.