Aesculap Implant to Pay $39 Million to Resolve Fraud Allegations

The US Department of Justice announced Monday that a Pennsylvania-based medical device company has agreed to pay nearly $39 million to resolve allegations that it sold knee replacement devices it knew would fail prematurely at a higher-than-acceptable rate, resulting in false claims to Medicare and Medicaid.

The False Claims Act settlement resolves claims that from 2010 to 2023, Aesculap Implant Systems LLC sold the VEGA System Knee System, a line of prosthetic implants used in knee replacement surgeries, which was prone to becoming loose from patients’ bones prematurely, often not long after surgery. Despite knowing the device had flaws, Aesculap ...