![]() ![]() This figure doesn’t include payments from device manufacturers like Johnson & Johnson and Allergan, which also sell other products. ![]() In the U.S., where drug and device manufacturers are required to disclose payments to physicians, the 10 largest medical device companies paid nearly $600 million to doctors or their hospitals last year to cover consulting fees, research and travel and entertainment expenses, according to an AP and ICIJ analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medical device companies have “invested countless resources - both capital and human - in developing leading-edge compliance programs,” said Janet Trunzo, head of technology and regulatory affairs for AdvaMed, the industry’s main trade association.Īt the same time, medical device makers also have spent billions to try to influence regulators, hospitals and doctors. “This is the greatest thing that saved my life, literally saved my life,” said Corby, estimating that up to three-quarters of his original pain was alleviated by the stimulator. Pete Corby, who injured his back working as a movie stuntman, said a spinal-cord stimulator helped him deal with his constant pain and stop using the opioids he’d become dependent on. It’s remarkable that the system is working as it does.” That to me doesn’t say that the system is failing. “The few devices that get attention at any time in the press is fewer than the devices we may put on the market in a single business day. Jeffrey Shuren, the FDA’s medical device director said at an industry conference in May. We approve or clear about a dozen new or modified devices every single business day,” Dr. “There are over 190,000 different devices on the U.S. But it rejects any suggestion of failed oversight. The FDA acknowledges its data has limitations, including mistakes, omissions and under-reporting that can make it difficult to determine whether a device directly caused an injury or death. each year - critical information that could be used to calculate success and failure rates. And the FDA does not disclose how many devices are implanted in the U.S. The investigation also found that the FDA - considered by other countries to be the gold standard in medical device oversight - puts people at risk by pushing devices through an abbreviated approval process, then responds slowly when it comes to forcing companies to correct sometimes life-threatening products.ĭevices are rarely pulled from the market, even when major problems emerge. The media partners found that, across all types of medical devices, more than 1.7 million injuries and nearly 83,000 deaths were reported to the FDA over the last decade. Reporters collected and analyzed millions of medical records, recall notices and other product safety warnings, in addition to interviewing doctors, patients, researchers and company whistleblowers. The AP reported on spinal stimulators as part of a nearly yearlong joint investigation of the global medical devices industry that included NBC, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 50 other media partners around the world. Most of these devices have been approved by the FDA with little clinical testing, however, and the agency’s data shows that spinal-cord stimulators have a disproportionately higher number of injuries compared to hip implants, which are far more plentiful. Medical device manufacturers insist spinal-cord stimulators are safe - some 60,000 are implanted annually - and doctors who specialize in these surgeries say they have helped reduce pain for many of their patients. and as a treatment for an aging population in need of chronic pain relief. Companies and doctors aggressively push them as a safe antidote to the deadly opioid crisis in the U.S. “But look at me.”įor years, medical device companies and doctors have touted spinal-cord stimulators as a panacea for millions of patients suffering from a wide range of pain disorders, making them one of the fastest-growing products in the $400 billion medical device industry. “I thought I would have a wonderful life,” Taft said. Today, the 45-year-old Taft is virtually paralyzed, a prisoner in his own bed, barely able to get to the bathroom by himself. After an operation to repair it, he said, the device shocked him so many times that he couldn’t sleep and even fell down a flight of stairs. Taft’s stimulator failed soon after it was surgically implanted. It wouldn’t fix the nerve damage in his mangled right arm, Taft and his wife recalled the doctor saying, but a spinal-cord stimulator would cloak his pain, making him “good as new.” COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) - Desperate for relief after years of agony, Jim Taft listened intently as his pain management doctor described a medical device that could change his life.
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