J&J hip implants: Drug regulator orders compensation for 2 more patients

The country's drug regulator has directed pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson to pay compensation to two more patients who received faulty hip implants made by the firm, a senior health ministry official said Tuesday.

The official said the both the patients are from Uttar Pradesh and the J&J has been asked to give them Rs 90.26 lakh and Rs 1.01 crore.

With these two cases, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has so far ordered compensation to four patients, based on the recommendations of the Cental Expert Committee and the state-level committee.

Earlier, the regulator had directed Johnson & Johnson to pay compensation to one patient each in Mumbai (in March) and Delhi (April).

The CDSCO has directed the compensation to be paid within 30 days from the date of receipt of the order.

In November last year, the Union Health Ministry approved a formula for determination of compensation for patients who had received, prior to August 2010, ASR hip implants manufactured by DePuy International Limited, UK, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.

According to the formula, thousands of patients implanted with US pharmaceutical major Johnson and Johnson's (J&J) articular surface replacement (ASR) hip implant, were to be compensated between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1.23 crore.

The company J&J recalled the faulty metal-on-metal ASR hip implants in 2010 globally after studies red-flagged the high rate of revision surgeries.

The government in 2017 constituted the central expert panel to investigate the complaints about ASR hip implant devices.

The committee headed by Dr Arun Kumar Agarwal, Ex-Dean and Professor of ENT, Maulana Azad Medical College, stated the pharmaceutical giant "suppressed" facts on the harm of surgeries, and recommended that patients be compensated.

Following this, in October 2018, the government had constituted the five-member central expert committee to determine the quantum of compensation to be given to the patients.