In September 2019, it was announced that West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and two of its subsidiaries (Ethicon Inc. and Ethicon US, LLC), alleging that the companies engaged in unlawful, unfair, and deceptive marketing practices associated with their surgical mesh devices.
The lawsuit claims Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries misrepresented the effectiveness, properties, risks, and safety history of the surgical mesh products in marketing and educational materials given to patients and doctors, including in published medical articles. Morrisey alleges that informational and marketing materials for the surgical mesh devices either omitted or concealed complications on a consistent basis.
The lawsuit also states that the surgical mesh products were misrepresented as being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, the products were not tested in clinical trials to obtain FDA approval prior to their initial sale but were instead cleared through a less rigorous approval process.
“Misrepresenting any product’s safety is unlawful and can have dire effects on consumers,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “When medical products are marketed in an improper manner, it can put consumers’ health at risk.” He believes that by its unlawful, unfair, and deceptive marketing practices, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries “took away, effectively, the doctor’s ability to give sound advice and the woman’s ability to make an informed decision about whether to have a permanent mesh implant put into her body.”
The lawsuit alleges Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries violated the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act. It seeks civil penalties and a permanent injunction to prevent the companies from marketing, advertising, promoting, offering for sale, distributing or selling their surgical mesh products in West Virginia.
Similar lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson in Washington (settled for $9.9 million), California, Kentucky, and Mississippi. The FDA stopped the sales of the mesh in April 2019 after years of injury reports and tends of thousands of lawsuits involving the devices.
Johnson & Johnson Expects to Defend
According to Ethicon spokeswoman Mindy Tinsley, the company plans to defend itself against the lawsuit, saying the company acted appropriately in its research, development and marketing of its medical implants.
This filing follows an August lawsuit Morrisey filed against Johnson & Johnson for allegedly covering up the addictive nature of its drugs.