DePuy Executive Resigns Amid Hip Replacement Recall and Lawsuits

The president of DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is stepping down as the company is dealing with the fall out from a massive recall of the DePuy ASR hip implant and hundreds lawsuits filed on behalf of individuals who received that product and other hip replacements made by DePuy. 

David Floyd’s resignation was announced last week by DePuy officials. Floyd, who has held the position since 2007, will work through the end of the month. The company has declined to give specific information about the reasons for his departure, only saying that he is pursuing interests outside of the company.

Floyd’s resignation comes just weeks after Johnson & Johnson announced that it had set aside nearly $1 billion to deal with litigation costs and potential settlements related to a DePuy hip implant recall last August. The set-aside cut significantly into the company’s profits, and Johnson & Johnson declared net earnings of $1.94 billion for that quarter.

More than 90,000 DePuy ASR XL Acetabular Systems and DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing Systems were sold before the hip replacements were recalled in August. The manufacturers have acknowledged that data so far has shown about 12% to 13% of these hips may fail within five years. However, as individuals with one of the recalled hip replacements continue to be monitored by their doctors, it is expected that the DePuy ASR failure rate will eventually be much higher.

More than 500 people have already filed a DePuy ASR hip lawsuit as a result of problems allegedly caused by the design of the metal-on-metal hip implant. In addition, there are a number of DePuy class action lawsuits seeking to force the company to pay the medical expenses for testing for anyone who received an ASR implant and must have it checked to make sure it isn’t failing or causing metal poisoning.

In addition to lawsuits over the recalled DePuy ASR hip, the device maker also faces a growing number of DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement lawsuits. Although a recall for this other hip model has not been issued, a growing number of people have filed complaints alleging that problems with the DePuy Pinnacle hip design increases the risk of pain and other complications, such as metal poisoning or metallosis, as the parts of the metal-on-metal hip replacement rub against each other.