J&J secures injunction against medical device counterfeiter
Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) subsidiary Ethicon has obtained a permanent injunction against counterfeiters selling fake versions of Surgicel, an absorbable haemostat used to control bleeding during surgery.
Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli of the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, ordered the permanent injunction on Wednesday, 1 December, after both parties filed a motion agreeing to a permanent injunction and to settle the case.
In its second amended complaint filed in early October 2019, Ethicon claims that a number of companies were producing counterfeits of Surgicel and selling the fake products to hospitals and clinics through grey-market distributors.
“While the counterfeiters have carefully and faithfully reproduced the authentic packaging, along with accurate depictions of Ethicon’s trademark, the product contained within is dramatically different,” said that complaint adding that the counterfeits are non-sterile and bacterially contaminated, and that use of the counterfeits during surgery could cause serious injury or death.
Ethicon discovered the counterfeit devices in May 2019, after a University of Kentucky Medical Center neurosurgeon noticed that a unit of Surgicel in his operating room performed differently than expected.
The surgeon complained to Ethicon and tech company tested the device, confirming that the packaging and product were counterfeit and that the counterfeit Surgicel device was “critically defective and dangerous”.
According to the complaint, Ethicon traced the fake products back to Lion Heart Surgical Supply and XS Supply.
