Maitri Porecha Pharmaceutical major Johnson and Johnson (J&J) has adopted an aggressive stance in court, denying that its controversial Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) hip implants, which are alleged to have left many in India crippled, are defective.

Following an expert committee report holding J&J liable for the faulty implants, the Union Health Ministry has been devising mechanisms to make the company pay compensation to the patients.

‘Vexatious and frivolous’

However, the US-based firm, in its responses to ongoing litigation, claimed the patients were trying to make ‘wrong windfall gains’ from the company. In its replies, which have been seen by BusinessLine, J&J also said that patients’ claims are ‘vexatious’ and ‘frivolous.’

Take the case of Punjab-based Ramandeep Chawla (40), who moved the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) claiming a compensation of ₹1 crore from J&J last year. This, after the company denied him reimbursement of up to ₹5 lakh for a second surgery, after his first ASR hip implant failed.

The reply filed by J&J to Chawla’s case in the NCDRC stated: “To be eligible for reimbursement under the ASR reimbursement programme, one ought to have undergone revision surgery within 10 years from the date of primary hip replacement surgery. In the case of the complainant, since the revision surgery was required 10 years after the primary surgery, the complainant was not eligible for (compensation for) revision surgery.”

Back in 2007, Chawla, then 29, was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a condition that caused his entire hip joint to deteriorate.

He underwent a total hip replacement surgery with J&J arm DePuy’s ASR XL Acetabular Implant at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre here.

From 2015, Chawla began to suffer severe pain but it was only in May 2017 that he was told by his hospital to ask for help at J&J’s ASR helpline.

After a battery of tests, the doctors told him his hip implant had failed and that he had to undergo an immediate re-surgery.

Chawla was shocked to receive an ‘unpayable invoice’ on November 6, 2017, from Puri Crawford Insurance Surveyors and Loss Assesors India Pvt Ltd on behalf of J&J.

“Despite our best efforts we have been unable to cover the expenses claimed by you. The reason is the expenses claimed by you are outside the scope of the ASR recall programme guideline,” said the invoice.

Unaware of recall

Chawla, in his petition, has stated he was unaware of the hip implant recall. “I was consulting doctors to treat the pain without knowing the product was causing it,” he said.

In another case, Pune-based businessman Purushottam Lohia has claimed a compensation of ₹5 crore. He has been suffering extreme pain even after his second surgery, following a failed implant.

Replying in court to Chawla and Lohia, J&J said: “It is vehemently denied that the complainant is entitled to any compensation whatsoever, much less the inflated compensation sought by the complainant.”

Worldwide, J&J has faced 11,000 suits over the ASR XL implants. In the US, the courts have directed it to pay each patient the equivalent of ₹7 crore on an average and J&J has set aside $3 billion for settlements there.

However, in its reply to Chawla’s petition, the company said: “The legal systems in the US and other countries including India are quite different and it is inappropriate to compare the settlement of lawsuits brought in the US with those brought in other countries.”

BusinessLine reached out to J&J for a response but the company did not reply.