Medtronic Inc. has agreed to pay $22 million to settle some product liability suits over its Infuse product. Infuse is a bone graft substitute that Medtronic promoted for off-label uses that caused the Plaintiffs’ injuries. The Minneapolis-based company said the settlement will resolve the claims of roughly 950 individual Plaintiffs. There are about 750 cases brought by more than 1,000 Plaintiffs parties. Most of these cases are still in their early stages.
The California Supreme Court last week granted Medtronic’s petition for review in a personal injury suit over Infuse after a state appeals court revived the suit by finding it was not preempted by the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The California state case was brought by John Coleman. He targeted Infuse, an implantable device that is used to strengthen vertebral disks. Infuse is only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be inserted by way of a surgical incision on the patient’s abdomen. The Coleman suit is not covered by the recent settlement announced last month.
Source: Law360.com
