One of the biggest medical companies in the world has admitted it is having to pay out to the NHS to cover the cost of monitoring and operating on patients who were given defective hip replacements, the Guardian can reveal.
DePuy, owned by Johnson & Johnson, would not say how much it had handed over, but it could run into millions. It recalled a metal-on-metal hip system in 2010 after it emerged that debris from wear and tear was causing damage and resulting in a large number of surgical revisions.
The company withdrew the products – a range known as the ASR (articular surface replacement) system – and advised that patients should have tests to check cobalt and chromium ion levels in their blood and, in some cases, MRI scans or X-rays.
Many patients have had follow-up operations to remove the defective hips and replace them, and the NHS is continuing to monitor others.
Johnson & Johnson told the Guardian it had made payments towards the costs. A spokesperson said: “Under the ASR hip system reimbursement programme … DePuy Synthes has provided reimbursement to the NHS trusts and other healthcare providers for applicable testing and treatment, including expenses related to revision surgeries.”
