Innovative Health Wins Suit Against J&J’s Biosense Webster for Trade Restraint

Innovative Health announced it has prevailed in U.S. District Court in its lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson’s Biosense Webster medical device unit.

The final decision includes a permanent injunction against Biosense Webster’s anticompetitive conduct in the reprocessing space. This follows a jury verdict for Innovative Health that resulted in $442 million in damages awarded.

The complaint, filed in 2019, alleged Biosense Webster (now Johnson & Johnson MedTech) participated in restraint of trade with its so-called case coverage policy. When certain reprocessed devices from other firms were used in electrophysiology (EP) procedures, Biosense Webster wouldn’t offer technical case support to operate the Carto 3 cardiac mapping machines in EP procedures.

The policy was put in place despite that the reprocessed devices are cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the same 510(k) review process as new devices.

Innovative Health said the policy removed the opportunity for EP labs to realize savings of millions of dollars. The company filed its case in October 2019 and completed discovery in December 2021. After the U.S. District Court granted summary judgment to Biosense Webster, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling and sent the case back to the district court for trial.

On May 16, 2025, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Innovative health on all four claims, finding Biosense Webster violated federal and California antitrust laws. The permanent injunction issued August 27 ordered Biosense Webster to discontinue its case coverage policy and stop other practices to restrict use of reprocessed devices.

“Our customers have really felt taken advantage of,” said Innovative Health CEO Rick Ferreira. “It is on their behalf we brought this case, and the court’s decision is their victory as much as it is ours. Monopolistic conditions for too long have permitted suppliers to bully hospital buyers into taking deals that effectively cost more or provide lesser care. This decision should stop such practices. Reprocessing, of course, will now be able to bring hospitals even stronger savings, and we are looking forward to supporting this evolution.”