Company ‘knew the danger of its mesh products but put profits ahead of the health of millions of women’, says California attorney general

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

A California judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay nearly $344m in penalties for deceptively marketing pelvic mesh devices for women, as the state attorney general accused the company of putting “profits ahead of the health of millions of women”.

Eddie Sturgeo, a San Diego superior court judge, ruled against the medical company in a lawsuit brought by the California department of justice in 2016. A Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman, Mindy Tinsley, said the New Jersey-based company planned to appeal the decision.

The products, also called transvaginal mesh, are synthetic devices surgically implanted through the vaginas of women whose pelvic organs have sagged or who suffer from stress urinary incontinence when they cough, sneeze or lift heavy objects. Such incontinence is estimated to affect 3% to 17% of women and sometimes becomes severe after age 70.

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However, women with the implant say they have been left with debilitating and chronic pain. In a similar, landmark case in Australia last year, a federal court heard how, in many cases, the mesh had internally eroded, causing infections, multiple complications, and becoming nearly impossible to remove.

Johnson & Johnson sold more than 780,000 devices in the US between 2008 and 2014, including more than 42,000 in California alone, according to that state’s attorney general’s office.

“Johnson & Johnson knew the danger of its mesh products but put profits ahead of the health of millions of women,” said Xavier Becerra, the attorney general, in a statement on Thursday.

His office said it was the first time a court had ruled that the company had engaged in false and deceptive business practices.

The company is dealing with thousands of lawsuits over drug side effects, its role in the US opioid epidemic and allegations its baby powder caused cancer in some users.

In October, Johnson & Johnson agreed to a $117m settlement with 41 states and the District of Columbia over similar allegations involving the mesh devices.

At the time of the multi-state settlement, a spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon surgical products unit said the company did not admit misconduct and that the devices were considered the “gold standard” by many for treating incontinence.

Last week, Johnson & Johnson, the world’s biggest maker of healthcare products, reported net income of $4.01bn, or $1.50 per share – an increase from $3.04bn a year earlier.

Higher prescription drug sales and lower legal costs drove its fourth-quarter profit 32% higher.

After the most recent earnings report, Erik Gordon, a professor and pharmaceuticals analyst at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, commented on the legal issues in an email to the Associated Press.

“A big question hanging over the company is how many billions of dollars it may have to pay as a result of the wave of products liability lawsuits it faces,” he wrote.