American Medical Systems Parent Company Reaches More Vaginal Mesh Settlements

Published on October 2, 2014 by Sandy Liebhard

The parent company of American Medical Systems, Inc. announced earlier this week that had reached an agreement to settle another 10,000 vaginal mesh lawsuits. The new accord is expected to cost the company around $400 million.

“We believe these settlements will allow the AMS business to continue its return to growth and enhance focus on operations and profitability,” Rajiv De Silva, Chief Executive of Endo International PLc, said in a statement.

American Medical Systems has been named in thousands of product liability claims that allege its Perigee, Apogee and Elevate mesh implants caused women to suffer serious and painful transvaginal mesh complications. The settlements announced this week will pay each eligible plaintiff an average of $48,000, according to a report fromBloomberg.com.

If this latest accord is finalized, Endo will have agreed to pay almost $1.3 billion to resolve claims involving pelvic mesh products marketed by American Medical Systems. Earlier this year, the company announced it had reached an agreement to resolve some 20,000 cases for $830 million. In 2013, Endo announced another settlement accord involving an undisclosed number of lawsuits that was slated to cost the company more than $54 million.

Vaginal Mesh Litigation Continues

Sources close to the American Medical Systems litigation told Bloomberg.com that around 5,000 vaginal mesh lawsuits filed against the company remain unresolved. The majority of those claims are pending in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia.

According to court documents, American Medical Systems is just one of a number of device makers, including Ethicon, Inc., Boston Scientific Corp. and C.R. Bard, Inc., involved in pelvic mesh litigations. More than 60,000 cases that allege their products caused organ damage, erosion, chronic pain and other complications have been filed in separate proceedings underway in the Southern District of West Virginia. Bloomberg.com reports that some of these other defendants are currently involved in settlement discussions.