J&J says will work with Indian govt on compensation for defective hip implants
07 Sep 2018
Global healthcare major Johnson & Johnson (J&J) said it would work with the Indian government to compensate patients who had suffered from its defective hip implants that were recalled by the US healthcare firm eight years ago after data showed high failure rates.
However, the Indian healthcare authorities continued to ignore warnings and the US action for well over two years before finally deciding to cancel the company’s hip implant licence.
In fact, the company told the expert committee appointed by the union health ministry in February 2017 that it cannot trace as many as 3,600 patients who underwent the surgeries involving the faulty implant because of the long delay.
Finally, the Indian authorities have woken up and directed the company to compensate people for the defective hip implants that have made life miserable for scores of people.
Last week, the government asked J&J to pay at least Rs20 lakh ($27,812) to each patient for the faulty ASR hip implant. The centre had asked states to help patients get relief soon.
Report say about 4,700 of the 93,000 people who received those defective ASR hip implants that were recalled in 2010, were people were in India.
Given the recent committee report, “we are seeking to work with the Indian government to develop an appropriate process for providing further support and compensation for patients in need”, a Reuters report quoted a J&J spokeswoman as saying. She said the company was committed to support all ASR patients in India.
However, a Mint report quoting a senior J&J executive in India, Sushobhan Dasgupta, said the company “will not pay people who had an ASR implant if they are doing well”.
The company is not happy with the methodology used by the Indian panel, Dasgupta told the paper in an interview published on Friday. The report has “factual inaccuracies” and “the conclusions could also be inaccurate”, he added.
In 2013, J&J agreed to pay nearly $2.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits from patients in the United States who said they were injured by the implants.
Metal hip implant systems such as ASR were designed to be more durable than a traditional metal-on-plastic, ball-and-socket design. But many Indian patients suffered adverse reactions to the implant, the panel said.
Meanwhile, reports said, because of the delay in cancelling the licence the company now says it cannot trace as many as 3,600 patients who underwent the surgeries involving the faulty implant.
This despite the fact that the regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, which comes under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, was informed of the global recall in 2010 itself.