Over a year ago, DePuy Orthopaedics ordered a voluntary recall on its ASR hip system. After looking into escalating concerns on the safety and effectiveness of the device, the company issued a recall order. A significant amount has been released by the company for the recall. According to recent reports, the hip replacement recall takes toll on DePuy.

Johnson & Johnson stated its 2010 fourth quarter in the early part of 2011. Compared to its 2009 earnings, a 12 percent drop was discovered. The company’s product recall had influenced the decrease, since $922 million had to be set aside for after-tax charges. The $922 million was kept back by the company to represent the net impact of litigation settlements, product liability expense and costs associated with the DePuy ASR Hip recall.” The $922 million is only a small amount when compared to the $24.6 billion the company sold for medical and diagnostics devices. The company also had a $61.5 billion worldwide sale in 2010.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission received Johnson & Johnson’s third quarter earnings report on November 8, 2011. The report showed that the pharmaceutical company had already incurred $223 million in litigation expenses and additional DePuy ASR hip recall cost from January to September this year. Also part of the report was the outline of the legal proceedings against which it is defending itself.

A part of the report discussed about the “the number of pending lawsuits continues to increase. The company continues to receive information with respect to potential costs associated with this recall.” For DePuy ASR devices, the report cites about 3,500 pending lawsuits.

More than 3,500 Australian plaintiffs have been given compensation by Johnson & Johnson which totaled to $21 million Australian dollars. The number of patients who had the DePuy hip replacement was roughly 5,570, according to the Australian government as reported in the WAtoday. This shows that around 62.8 percent of the total Australian patients have been compensated by the company.

The money set aside by Johnson & Johnson may sum up to billions of dollars more, media reports say. The outcome of the settlement or the court proceedings determines the amount of money given to the DePuy hip recall claimants.

Approximately 93,000 patients in the world received these products. There are about 38,000 recipients of the DePuy hip in the United States, according to independent estimates. Taking legal actions on the ASR hip replacement recall is one way for patients to receive compensations from the company.