DePuy Orthopaedics has ceased production of the metal lining used in its Pinnacle Acetabular cup hip replacement, which has lately been the center of focus around several lawsuits. The stopped production came after evidence surfaced that the hip implants could cause serious pain and fail much earlier than at first thought.
According to Injury Lawyer News, the metal liner, specifically, has been under close watch from government and independent parties, and has become such a problem that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hopes to increase regulation of all metal-on-metal hip devices, regardless of what metal lining is used.
The agency is pushing for companies to have to jump through more hoops to get approval to send their products to market. The media outlet pointed out that there has not been a full recall of the Pinnacle device, however the product’s sales have been suspended. If testing shows that the liner in question produces the same results that were seen in previous hip devices that were actually recalled, it will likely be taken off the market.
All over the country, hundreds of claims have been filed regarding the 2010 recall of another DePuy hip product.
Metals testing is critical for determining the lifecycle of a product.