U.K. lawyers, medical device makers convene over metal-on-metal hip lawsuits

Lawyers from both sides in more than 1,000 U.K. lawsuits filed over metal-on-metal hip implants reportedly met yesterday in London’s High Court for an unprecedented case management conference to consolidate the suits.

There are 11 separate products involved in the litigation, including hip implants made by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary DePuy Synthes, Zimmer Biomet (NYSE:ZBH), Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN), Corin and others, Lexology reported.

A 2013 review of 17,000 hip replacement cases by Britain’s National Institute for Health & Care Excellence found failure rates as high as 43% after 9 years for metal-on-metal implants. The agency recommended that National Health System hospitals stop using any implant with failure rates exceeding 5%, which would cover virtually every metal-on-metal implant there.

Metal-on-metal hip implants came under scrutiny following the high-profile August 2010 recall of DePuy Orthopaedics’ ASR XL acetabular and ASR hip resurfacing systems. Johnson & Johnson pulled the devices off the market after receiving reports that a higher-than-normal number of patients required surgeries to correct or remove defective implants.

Some reports warned that hundreds of thousands of patients may have also been exposed to toxic compounds from metal-on-metal implants, putting them at risk of developing cancer, cardiomyopathy, muscle and bone destruction and changes to their DNA. Since then the controversy has ensnared other device makers, with personal injury lawsuits piling up even against metal-on-metal implants that haven’t undergone a recall.

Device makers have discontinued several of the implants involved in the British cases and almost all are no longer recommended by the British Hip Society, according to Lexology.

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