Posted by admin | Posted in Incontinence Surgery? | Posted on 11-06-2012
Well if all the lawsuits about surgical mesh for incontinence weren’t enough to scare you off, how about the most family friendly giant company ceasing to make them?
There’s really only two reasons a big company like Johnson & Johnson would stop selling the surgical mesh:
1. Not enough profit
2. Legal problem
That’s it. So either they weren’t making money which seems like something that could be altered and controlled or the mesh “implants” were becoming a legal problem.
Johnson & Johnson says the market is changing and the mesh isn’t commercially viable anymore. They denied that the change was related to safety. I’ve got no opinion on that. No at Johnson & Johnson has ever lied to me before so I’m not sure why I’d think they are now.
But I do wonder if the legal department wrote this announcement so that it was legally correct. Perhaps the lawsuits and safety problems caused the changing marketplace? Perhaps the bad press is making doctors leary of suggesting them.
There are three other manufacturers making the incontinence surgical mesh still including, Boston Scientific, Endo Pharmaceuticals and C.R. Bard
Between 2008 and 2010 the FDA received 1,500 complaints about mesh problems and ultimately issued a statement that the mesh provides no great clinical benefit. Perhaps that’s the dynamic changing market Johnson & Johnson is referring.