Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

Federal regulators in the United States had serious safety concerns about one variation of a recalled DePuy hip implant. Johnson & Johnson nevertheless went ahead and sold thousands of the devices in Europe, before later acknowledging that all versions of the ASR hip implant may be prone to early failure.

According to a recent New York Times investigation, the FDA rejected the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System after a detailed review of its safety profile raised concerns.

DePuy Orthopaedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson, was able to market the device in Europe without the concerns of U.S. regulators being relayed to their European counterparts.

A new medical study suggests that side effects of Pradaxa, a new blood thinner, may increase the risk of bleeding events even more than warfarin, the drug it was designed to replace.

Kansas researchers tested the use of Pradaxa during radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation and discovered more than double the number of bleeding problems with Pradaxa, when compared to those seen when warfarin was used.

In a study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

New Jersey state court lawsuits over Accutane and generic versions have been consolidated as a mass tort in Atlantic County before Judge Carol Higbee, and the number of complaints filed in the state has more than doubled over the last year.

There are now more than 7,000 Accutane lawsuits pending in New Jersey state court. These complaints allege that the makers of the acne medication failed to adequately warn about the risk of serious and debilitating bowel problems.

All of the complaints involve similar allegations that the acne drug had inadequate warnings and that side effects of Accutane may increase risk of severe inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has ordered that all federal Wright Conserve hip replacement lawsuits be transferred to one judge for coordinated pre-trial proceedings as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation.

The U.S. JPML centralized the Wright Conserve hip litigation before U.S. District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

The complaints allege that Wright Medical Technology manufactured a defective metal-on-metal hip implant, known as the Conserve Plus, and failed to warn patients about the potential risk that the device may fail within a few years of surgery.

A new medical study has found that the anti-clotting drug Xarelto could have less of a risk of causing a stroke than older blood thinners, but the drug appears to share of the same risks as Pradaxa.

The study, which was funded by Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturers of the new medication Xarelto. According to researchers, users of Xarelto were one-third less likely to experience brain bleeding than patients given warfarin, (Coumadin), when the drug was prescribed for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.

But, Xarelto, like Pradaxa, belongs to a new class of blood thinners that require less monitoring, but may cause severe bleeding problems that are more difficult to treat.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has decided to create three new multidistrict litigations (MDLs) for all vaginal mesh lawsuits.

These lawsuits involve products manufactured by American Medical Systems, Inc. (AMS), Boston Scientific Corp. and Ethicon, Inc. The new MDLs will be centralized in the Southern District of West Virginia, where litigation over Bard Avaulta mesh systems is already consolidated.

According to an order issued this week, all four vaginal mesh MDLs will be assigned to Chief Judge Joseph R. Goodwin.

According to medical experts, a medical study underway is expected to reveal that side effects of metal-on-metal hip replacements can cause genetic damage, which could lead to an increased risk of cancer.

According to the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper, a study to be presented next month at the British Hip Society conference will include findings that suggest the metal particles released by the grinding of metal-on-metal hip replacements could cause chromosomal changes, which may lead to kidney cancer and bladder cancer.

The findings are the latest nails in the coffin over the safety of the once-popular hip implant designs. These hips have been the subject of massive recalls and product liability lawsuits filed by individuals who allege that they are subject to failure within a few years after surgery.