Ortho firms mark end of deferred prosecution agreements
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
All five top orthopedic implant makers emerge from an 18-month period of federal monitoring of compliance policies related to surgeon consulting agreements with no new restrictions attached, the Department of Justice announces March 30. Deferred prosecution agreements entered into by four of the firms - Johnson & Johnson/DePuy, Zimmer, Biomet and Smith & Nephew - in September 2007 have now expired and related anti-kickback charges have been dismissed "as a result of the companies' successful completion" of the program, DoJ says. The firms remain subject to corporate integrity agreements with HHS through September 2012. The fifth manufacturer - Stryker - which was subject to the same reform requirements as its competitors as well as monitoring, also has satisfactorily met the terms of a non-prosecution agreement, Justice notes. The government had accused the firms of using surgeon consulting agreements as inducements for product selection (1"The Gray Sheet" Oct. 1, 2007, p. 3)