After being ordered to pay $442 million in damages—a ruling the company has said it may appeal—Johnson & Johnson MedTech is now facing the possibility of a permanent injunction that could impact certain business practices. A hearing is scheduled for July. 

The San Diego-based startup gained FDA approval for its Hotwire RF guidewire in 2024. The technology has already been used to perform hundreds of heart procedures.

A bad outcome for Johnson & Johnson MedTech just got worse. A jury previously ordered the company to pay $147M, but the new total is $442M.

Clinical guidelines already recommend that these procedures be performed together when applicable. However, researchers noted, it is still not terribly common among today’s surgeons. 

The company says the new device was designed to improve image quality, provide additional maneuverability and simplify ablation workflows for electrophysiologists. 

The company told Cardiovascular Business it respectfully disagrees with the jury's decision and is evaluating all possible legal options going forward. The Association of Medical Device Reprocessors, meanwhile, celebrated the news.

Patients often develop AFib during cardiac surgery, leading to longer hospital stays, additional healthcare costs and a higher risk of mortality. Cooling the oblique sinus of the patient's heart as soon as AFib starts to develop may represent a new way to stop the problem in its tracks. 

Cardiologists are turning to leadless pacemakers more and more for cardiac pacing, but those devices have not previously been able to perform LBBAP. This new analysis includes new data on the world’s very first leadless LBBAP procedures.