The first of about 1,800 lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon division concerning its transvaginal mesh began earlier this month with jury selection and opening arguments.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the cases hope to prove that the Gynecare Prolift System is defective, and also that Ethicon was aware of its dangers but continued to market and sell the products. Judges in the bellwether trials are focusing their attention on how much Ethicon was aware of, regarding the safety their mesh products, according to Finchannel.com. More Johnson & Johnson Transvaginal Mesh Cases Go to Trial

The president of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) DePuy unit appeared, via a previously taped deposition, before jurors yesterday. Andrew Ekdahl stated that his company recalled 93,000 all-metal hip implants not because they were unsafe, but because they “did not meet the clinical needs for the product.”

The case is the first of 10,000 cases to go to trial. Patient lawsuits claim that J&J defectively designed the ASR hip implant and failed to warn the public about the device’s risks before the ASR was recalled in August 2010. J&J also denies that it defectively designed the ASR, Bloomberg.com reported. More President of J&J’s DePuy Unit Denies ASR All-Metal Hips were Recalled for Safety Issues

Johnson and Johnson (J&J) executive Andrew Ekdahl knew about the defects in the DePuy ASR hip device three years prior to its recall, the prosecution argued Wednesday as a trial against the hip maker continued into its third day.

Ekdahl was hired by J&J in 2011 to allegedly head the DePuy Orthopaedics division as par of an effort to give the company a fresh start in the wake of its recalling the ASR hip device. In fact, Ekdahl supervised the implant’s introduction in the U.S. and had been told by a top company consultant three years before the device was recalled that it was faulty, The New York Times said. More Trial Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Details on the Recalled DePuy ASR Hip Device

An orthopedic surgeon testified in court on Tuesday that Johnson and Johnson’s (J&J) DePuy ASR hip device was not as effective as advertised.

Speaking in a Los Angeles court in the first of 10,000 cases against DePuy to go to trial, orthopedic surgeon, Craig Swenson of La Jolla, California, told jurors he began using the ASR in 2006 after concluding it would last longer and create less debris than devices using plastic or ceramic. Swenson, who implanted more than 5,000 hip devices over three decades, said results did not turn out how he anticipated. Of more than 200 ASR hips he implanted from 2006 to 2010, 38 percent have failed, he said, according to Bloomberg.com. More Witness: J&J Failed Its Own Hip Design Safety Test

Federal regulators are warning consumers about an untested inhaled formula being marketed by a Florida company as a flu remedy.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning letter to Flu and Cold Defense LLC concerning its misleading and unproven claims about its GermBullet inhaler. The Boca Raton, Florida-based firm markets GermBullet as a “proprietary blend of 11 organic botanicals” and claims that an FDA-recognized virology laboratory tested the formula, and confirms that the product has the capability to kill cold and flu viruses. The FDA says the company is violating drug safety regulations by making those claims, the Associated Press (AP) reported. More Federal Regulators Warn Consumers About Bogus Flu Rememdies

Some first responders are being compensated by the Victim Compensation Fund for the injuries and illnesses they suffered as a result of their exposure the debris from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) made its first awards on Tuesday to 15 first responders, whose names were not released. Fourteen are firefighters and one is a corrections officer who responded to the tragedy very early on, including the very first day, said The New York Times. Most suffer from respiratory illnesses, and none have cancer. The initial awards will only provide 10 percent of the benefits at first, due to uncertainty about how many people will apply for benefits. The fund expires October 2016 and, theoretically, it could have to pay out $8.6 billion, which is much more than it can afford, The New York Times explained. More First Awards Given to 9/11 First Responders Injured In Terror Attacks

Federal prosecutors are looking into Swiss manufacturer Novartis, regarding its hypertension drug, Tekturna.

According to Parker Waichman LLP, a national law firm, Novartis (aliskiren) is under investigation for its marketing of Tekturna. Federal prosecutors in Louisville, Kentucky, subpoenaed a U.S. unit of the company last year seeking documents related to sales practices, including payment to healthcare providers for Tekturna and other medical products. More Prosecutors Investigating Novartis Over Marketing Practices Related to Tekturna

In the wake of the deaths of two British Airways (BA) pilots who had, for years, complained about exposure to toxic fumes in plane cabins, lawyers are threatening to sue the airline.

Karen Lysakowska and Richard Westgate, both 43, died this month believing that toxic oil fumes caused their fatal illnesses. The fumes can contaminate the cabin air and pilots are often forced to wear oxygen masks in order to breathe. Richard Westgate was so certain that toxic oil fumes had slowly killed him over the years that he told his lawyer to sue BA for alleged breach of health and safety guidelines. Westgate’s lawyer says the airline is liable under the U.K.’s Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations because they fail to monitor the quality of air on board planes, according to Travel Mole. More Lawyers Threaten To Sue British Airlines Over Toxic Oil Fumes In Plane Cabins

The first witness in a trial against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) said the company failed to inform doctors of a flaw it discovered in the DePuy ASR hip replacement device. This is the first case to go to trial of over 10,000 cases against J&J, which recalled the device in 2010.

Magnus Flett, who led a design team and oversaw a group conducting a failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), told the jury how DePuy Orthopaedics–a unit of J&J–analyzed what might cause the ASR hips to fail. In testimony Monday, Flett said DePuy ditched efforts to redesign the ASR cup due to financial and business reasons, Bloomberg.com said. Flett added that DePuy never told surgeons that the ASR failed and required follow-up surgeries at a rate that was eight times that of DePuy’s Pinnacle hip device, according to Bloomberg.com. More J&J Never Forecast Flaws with DePuy ASR Metal-on-Metal Hip Device

National law firm, Parker Waichman LLP, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of an Arizona woman who claims she suffered serious complications after the Mirena® IUD she was implanted with perforated her uterus and migrated outside of it. The lawsuit was filed on January 2 in the Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division in Morris County.

The plaintiff was allegedly implanted with the Mirena® IUD in February 2008 and thought that she had tolerated the procedure well. There was no reason to believe the device had perforated her uterus at that time. The complaint states that a May 2011 ultrasound revealed that the Mirena® IUD was no longer in her uterus and the plaintiff had to undergo laparoscopic surgery. The plaintiff alleges that she suffered a number of damages, including severe and permanent physical injuries, substantial pain and suffering and economic loss in the form of medical expenses. More Arizona Woman Sues Bayer Over Alleged Mirena® IUD Injuries