The AP (2/15, Johnson, Jordans) reports that spokespersons for Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics unit on Thursday said that on Jan. 14, the company “notified surgeons and hospitals” that it was recalling its all-metal, Adept hip implants because a data review of national registries in the UK and Australia revealed a “higher-than-expected percentage of them had to be replaced.” The UK registry data showed “12.1 percent of patients needed their implants replaced within seven years,” whereas the Australia registry data revealed “7.1 percent of patients needed replacements within three years.” The recall “involves only the top part of the hip replacement system, the ball at the top of the thigh bone that fits into the hip’s socket.” According to Bloomberg News (2/15, Pettypiece, Cortez), J&J said “about 7,500” of the hip implants, which have not been on the market since 2011, “were distributed in 21 countries not including the US.” Notably, the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based healthcare products company “recalled 93,000 of its ASR model hips in August 2010 and faces 10,000 lawsuits,” the first of which is presently underway in a Los Angeles state court.
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