J&J to pay more to settle suits over hip implants

Delaware

JOHNSON & Johnson agreed to pay as much as US$420 million more to resolve lawsuits over recalled hip implants that were excluded in 2013 from a US$2.5 billion settlement of claims that the devices were defective and caused metal poisoning in patients.

J&J's DePuy unit agreed to push back the deadline for recipients of the company's ASR implants to file settlement claims to Jan 31 of this year, according to a filing Friday in federal court in Toledo, Ohio. That will allow as many as 1,400 patients who've had ASR hips removed since 2013 to seek about US$300,000 each in compensation under the original 2013 accord.

"By extending the benefits of the previously announced US Settlement Programme to an additional group of ASR patients, we are again providing fair compensation" to artificial hip recipients "without the delay and uncertainty of protracted…