Jury
selection is set to begin today in the first bellwether case in the DePuy Pinnacle
MDL. It is among more than 6,000 cases currently pending in the MDL. The cases
have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in Dallas. Judge Kinkeade
will preside over the trial.
Depuy
is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”). The plaintiffs allege metal-on-metal version of the
Pinnacle hip was defectively designed and caused metal debris to leech into
patients’ bloodstreams.
J&J had heavily touted
the metal-on-metal implants, first sold in the U.S. in 2005, as a design that
would last 20 years and offer greater range of motion. However, J&J stopped selling the metal-on-metal version of
the Pinnacle hip in August 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
said it would require device makers to submit new versions of the artificial
hips for pre-market approval.
The
Pinnacle line of hips wasn’t covered by J&J’s $2.5 billion settlement of claims that its ASR hip devices shed chromium
and cobalt debris from the metal-on-metal which caused tissue death and
increased metal ions in the blood. Other complications from the ASR hip
devices included dislocations, pain, and required surgical removal.
It is estimated
the trial will last up to six weeks.
