Yesterday Court Issued Final Injunction After Jury Finds that Biosense Webster’s Unlawful, Anti-Competitive Practices Forced Hospitals to Purchase More Costly, Wasteful Products

The Association of Medical Device Reprocessors (AMDR) announced that Judge James Selna of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has issued a permanent injunction against Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) Biosense Webster (BSW) medical device unit for unlawful, anti-competitive conduct. The ruling prohibits BSW from blocking hospitals’ access to safe, lower-cost, FDA-regulated reprocessed cardiac catheters. The decision follows a jury verdict ordering BSW to pay plaintiff Innovative Health, LLC $147 million in damages—which has automatically tripled to $442 million—for violating federal and state antitrust laws.

The permanent injunction:

• prohibits BSW from tying clinical support for its cardiac mapping machines to buying compatible devices from BSW instead of a competing reprocessor;
• prevents BSW from discriminating in how it provides clinical support or cardiac mapping machines based on a care provider’s use of BSW devices reprocessed by another company;
• bans new anti-reprocessing “kill switches” and other blocking technologies intentionally designed to prevent BSW devices from functioning when reprocessed by another company; and
• blocks BSW from hoarding used catheters that it does not reprocess to prevent reprocessors from lawfully obtaining source materials.

The injunction will remain in effect for an initial term of five years, though the Court reserved the power to “shorten or lengthen” it to reflect “market conditions.”

AMDR celebrates the major legal victory for hospitals, patients, the environment, and the medical device reprocessing industry.

“Hospitals and patients have long paid the price for BSW’s anticompetitive behavior,” said Daniel J. Vukelich, President & CEO of AMDR. “This ruling reaffirms that dominant device manufacturers cannot abuse their market power to prevent hospitals from delivering the best possible care at the lowest possible price to the most patients in need at the least cost to the environment. The verdict from the jury and the injunction from the judge both send strong signals to the MedTech industry that the courts are on alert and will not tolerate monopolistic conduct.”

“The court’s decision affirms AMDR members’ rightful place in the healthcare system as guardians of sustainable practices,” said Vukelich. “We thank Innovative Health for its leadership in this six-year process.”

Please click to learn more about the verdict, evidence presented at trial, and its impact on hospitals.

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