Johnson & Johnson Ordered To Pay $344 Mln In California Pelvic Mesh Case

(RTTNews) - A California judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay about $344 million in penalties in a lawsuit claiming false and deceptive marketing of its pelvic mesh products for women.

The California Department of Justice sued Johnson & Johnson in May 2016 after a years-long multistate investigation revealed the company had neglected to inform both patients and doctors of possible severe complications from the products and misrepresented the frequency and severity of risks the products posed.

"Johnson & Johnson intentionally concealed the risks of its pelvic mesh implant devices. It robbed women and their doctors of their ability to make informed decisions about whether to permanently implant the products in patients' bodies," said Attorney General Becerra.

From 2008 to 2014, Johnson & Johnson sold more than 470,000 pelvic mesh products nationally, including more than 30,000 in California. Worldwide, more than 2 million women have had these mesh products implanted in their bodies, the California Department of Justice said.

The Justice department said that the court affirmed that Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries Ethicon Inc. and Ethicon US LLC, violated California's Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law.

According to the Justice department, Johnson & Johnson has faced over 35,000 personal injury lawsuits related to its pelvic mesh products. It has settled claims similar to those brought by Attorney General Becerra with the state of Washington for $9.9 million and with a coalition of 42 other states for $117 million.