Ethicon

Ethicon Inc. is part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. It manufactures medical devices and surgical instruments.

The company reported $4.9 billion in revenue in 2021.

Ethicon is well-known for its sutures and other wound closure products. It also makes hernia mesh and transvaginal mesh.

Some of Ethicon’s popular mesh products have caused patient injuries. This has led to lawsuits, financial setbacks and a voluntary recall.

Ethicon has its headquarters in Bridgewater, New Jersey and Cincinnati, Ohio.

The manufacturer sells its products in 52 countries. It has a large majority of market shares in surgical sutures in the U.S.

Johnson & Johnson’s surgery franchise made $8.2 billion in sales in 2020, according to Johnson and Johnson’s 2020 annual report. The figure is down from $9.5 billion in 2019.

Ethicon started in 1915 in Edinburgh, Scotland. It began as a factory that manufactured, packaged and sterilized catgut, silk and nylon sutures. The factory was founded by Scottish pharmacist George F. Merson.

Merson developed eyeless needled sutures with a single strand of material pre-attached through the butt of the needle. This invention greatly reduced tissue damage caused by pulling double strands through the skin.

Johnson & Johnson bought G.F. Merson Limited in 1947.

Ethicon Suture

Under Johnson & Johnson’s control, G.F. Merson Limited became Ethicon Suture Laboratories in 1949. And in 1953, it became Ethicon Inc.

Merson stayed involved in the company until his death in 1958.

For years before his death, Merson invited the company’s directors to a yearly dinner in January. They would talk about Ethicon’s accomplishments and future plans. This tradition continued after his death.

Ethicon Inc.

In the 1990s, Ethicon Inc. formed four different companies with unique product specialties under the Ethicon name. The companies were to help Ethicon explore new and more advanced technologies.

In 2008, the company sold its wound management business to One Equity Partners. The former division of Ethicon became Systagenix Wound Management Limited.

Ethicon manufactures a range of surgical products. The company’s motto is “shaping the future of surgery,” according to the Ethicon website.

Ethicon started with the creation of the first sutures. It expanded into biosurgical tools, and infection control and wound closure products. It also makes hernia mesh, and pelvic meshes and slings.

Ethicon pulled its popular Physiomesh Flexible Composite Hernia Mesh from the market worldwide in 2016. Unpublished data from two large studies determined possible safety risks to patients.

Ethicon issued hernia mesh recalls in Europe and Australia. It issued a market withdrawal in the U.S.

The studies showed that Physiomesh had higher rates of revision surgeries compared to other hernia meshes used for hernia repairs. There was also a greater possibility of the hernia returning.

The company blamed the hernia mesh complications on possible “product characteristics” as well as “operative and patient factors,” according to one publication.

Ethicon has not issued a transvaginal mesh recall. But, in 2012, the company stopped selling four of its Gynecare mesh products.

Ethicon is involved in lawsuits over several of its products. These include transvaginal mesh, surgical staplers and hernia mesh.

Transvaginal Mesh

At one time, Ethicon faced more than 40,000 transvaginal mesh lawsuits over its Prolift transvaginal mesh device and Gynecare TVT-Obturator bladder sling complications. Several lawsuits ended in jury verdicts or settlements.

As of March 15, 2021, the company faces three federal lawsuits in West Virginia. It “settled or otherwise resolved” the majority of these claims for undisclosed amounts, according to J&J’s 2020 Annual Report.

The MDL court in West Virginia has remanded some cases back to its local state jurisdictions. Cases continue to be filed, but they remain outside the MDL. Ethicon still faces 14,900 pelvic mesh lawsuits, according to the 2020 annual report.

Ethicon agreed to pay $117 million to 41 states and the District of Columbia to settle claims for deceptive marketing of its pelvic mesh products in October 2019.

Surgical Staplers

Ethicon recalled nearly 92,500 of its Endo-Surgery surgical staplers in 2019 after staplers misfired in two patients, injuring them.

Patients who were injured by these malfunctioning devices are filing surgical stapler lawsuits against the company.

Hernia Mesh

Ethicon faces thousands of hernia mesh lawsuits related to its Physiomesh Flexible Composite, Proceed and Prolene hernia meshes. Lawsuits claim Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson manufactured and sold a defective product.

Some lawsuits have ended in verdicts or settlements.

As of March 15, 2021, Ethicon faced 3,365 Physiomesh lawsuits in multidistrict litigation in Georgia. It also faces cases in multicounty litigation in New Jersey.

Proceed and Prolene hernia mesh cases are pending in separate multicounty litigations in New Jersey.

The first Physiomesh trial for Jim B. and Diane Crumbley is set to take place on March 18, 2021. The second bellwether will go to trial on June 7, 2021. The third is tentatively scheduled for September 13, 2021.

Lawsuits against Ethicon have resulted in millions of dollars in payouts to injured patients. This includes multiple verdicts and settlements involving pelvic meshes.

Despite repeated losses, the company has not yet agreed to a large-scale settlement.