After a two-week delay, the first federal trial over Johnson & Johnson’s recalled ASR hip implants is set to begin Monday, Sept. 23, in an Ohio courtroom. The case, brought by 58-year-old Ann McCracken of Rochester, N.Y., could set a precedent for thousands of other plaintiffs who say they also were injured by the devices. [...]

Notable manufacturers of many dangerous drugs and medical devices have reported a variety of earnings results for their most recent quarters. While Stryker Corp. reported a 34 percent drop in total net earnings following a recall of its Rejuvenate and ABG II hip implants that has cost the company $210 million in legal costs, other [...]

Newer type 2 diabetes therapies continue to yield mixed safety reports. Along with concerns about pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer, a sub-class of incretin-based pills called DPP-4 drugs such as Onglyza and Januvia are now linked to a slight increased risk of heart failure. Critics of these drugs claim the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [...]

In March, Johnson & Johnson lost its first DePuy Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) trial to the tune of $8.3 million. Not surprisingly, the device manufacturer continued to deny liability for defective ASR hip implants following the verdict and announced plans to appeal. But now the company is rumored to be contemplating a potentially record-breaking settlement [...]

Pharmaceutical forecasters say sales of blood thinners will grow higher than any other prescription drug class over the next six years, according to a new report. EvaluatePharma, a group that analyzes biotech and pharmaceutical performance, predicts in its June World Preview report that worldwide anti-coagulant drug sales will reach $15.3 billion by 2018, nearly double [...]

Statins prescribed to lower cholesterol may also be beneficial for reducing the risk of a number of other health problems, doctors say. They point to a new study, published in the July 2013 American Heart Association (AHA) journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes that compared several statins for safety and effectiveness. Researchers compared data gathered [...]

Medical device manufacturer Medtronic, which is already embroiled in litigation about a synthetic bone graft product it makes, also produced a pain pump linked to 14 deaths, according to Bloomberg. The device, an implantable infusion pain pump, is known as the SynchroMed II. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration found four flaws with the pump [...]

Several high-potency statins, a class of widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, may increase the risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to a recent study published in the British Medical Journal. While numerous clinical trials prove that statin therapy can significantly reduce heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular disease, past studies suggest the drug class is associated [...]