JNJ Officially Discontinues All-Metal Hips

New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson has come to the decision to cease production of all metal-on-metal hip replacements as of August 31 this year. JNJ unit DePuy Orthopaedics’ ASR hip replacements are the subject of more than 10,000 lawsuits that JNJ began facing in court this year. The hips were accused of leaving metal deposits in patients’ bloodstreams and soft tissue, causing pain, the need for revision surgery or removal of the implant, and in some cases severe illness or death.

“The decision to stop selling the hips isn’t related to safety or effectiveness, and it isn’t a recall,” a JNJ spokesperson told Bloomberg News.

The spokesperson also said that metal liners in the Ultamet metal-on-metal articulation and the Complete ceramic-on-metal acetabular hip system no longer will be available worldwide after the end of August. JNJ’s DePuy Orthopaedics unit will stop selling related products through 2014 to “simplify and streamline” its offerings.

“DePuy made the decision to discontinue these products because of low clinician use of Ultamet and Complete, the availability of other options that meet the clinical needs of patients and proposed changes in [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] regulation of the entire class of metal-on-metal products, which includes Ultamet,” the spokesperson said.

“We won’t have any metal-on-metal or ceramic-on metal hips any longer,” said Mindy Tinsley, DePuy spokesperson. “We’ve seen, for example, a 90 percent decline in metal-on-metal sales industry-wide in the United States and Europe since 2007. There’s really not a viable market for these bearing combinations anymore.”

JNJ will still market the Pinnacle acetabular cup system with only polyethylene or ceramic options. It will also sell a range of liners and cups made with other materials, including ceramic and medical-grade plastics.