Pittsburgh, PAAnd women say it again: AMS transvaginal mesh is good for absolutely nothing. At one time it reaped a nice profit for Endo International Plc, owner of American Medical Systems (AMS). But the recent $1.3 billion settlement by Endo clearly has eaten into the drug company’s bottom line.
Endo has agreed to pay nearly $1.3 billion to resolve product liability transvaginal mesh lawsuits over its implants. About 30,000 claims have been settled, with average settlement amounts ranging from $40,000 to $50,000, but some cases involving severe complications and revision surgeries could result in settlements as high as $400,000.
In its quarterly period that ended September 30, 2014, Endo announced that, as of November 3, 2014, about “25,000 filed vaginal mesh cases are currently pending against AMS and/or the Company or certain of its subsidiaries, some of which may have been filed on behalf of multiple plaintiffs, and a minority of which seek class action certification.”
Endo has now placed AMS up for sale, according to The Wall Street Journal, after the company said it would pay about $830 million to resolve 20,000 pelvic mesh lawsuits. The Wall Street Journal says the company is valued at about $2 billion today; three years ago Endo purchased AMS for $2.9 billion.
Valerie has an AMS claim pending. She has been living with severe pain since having an AMS Monarc vaginal sling implant nine years ago. “At first the procedure seemed to have worked - it did stop any leaking from my urinary incontinence issue,” she says. Unfortunately, anything good about the mesh was short-lived.
“I started to get sharp pains during intercourse and we would have to stop. Needless to say, this was very frustrating for both me and my partner.”
It never occurred to Valerie that the transvaginal mesh could be to blame. She complained to her gynecologist about the painful intercourse and she prescribed a vaginal cream, thinking it was due to vaginal dryness. “Of course that did nothing to relieve the pain, and to make matters worse, my incontinence came back. There is nothing good about this mesh and I can’t understand why some makes are still on the market.”
AMS took its Apogee and Perigee pelvic organ transvaginal mesh (TVM) off the market, before having to follow up with the FDA order of post-market monitoring.
Transvaginal mesh lawyers predict that the AMS settlement will pave the way for more mesh manufacturers to settle their pending claims.
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