The ongoing and closely followed case of Kransky vs DePuy has seen some interesting developments in recent days. Bloomberg has reported on the cross examination of toxicologist Dennis J. Paustenbach who has claimed; “I believe that the cobalt and chromium from the ASR implant did not cause or worsen Mr. Kransky’s systemic health problems”. Furthermore he stated that Kransky’s chromium levels were “of insignificant health risk, basically of no health risk.”
So far so good, but then the attorney for Mr Kransky focused his questioning on the subject of Mr Paustenbach’s independence.
Apparently his company has billed DePuy $5M over the past 18 months for work to study medical literature on the effects of cobalt prior to the ASR recall.
You can find the full Bloomberg piece here and it makes very interesting reading, especially the bit where Mr Paustenbach was accused of being industry’s “go-to guy”, implying bias in his work.
Source: Bloomberg Business Week
published: February 22, 2013 in: DePuy, Hip, Johnson & Johnson