Innovative Health Prevails in Lawsuit Against J&J's Biosense Webster for Restraint of Trade

The decision opens the door to immediately increase savings from reprocessing programs and sends a strong signal to all medical device suppliers regarding their anticompetitive practices

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Health, Inc. today announced that the company has prevailed in U.S. District Court in its lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson's Biosense Webster medical device unit. The judge's final decision includes a permanent injunction against Biosense Webster's anticompetitive conduct in the reprocessing space, following a jury verdict for Innovative Health that resulted in an award of $442 million in damages.

The complaint, filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division on Oct. 18, 2019, alleged Biosense Webster (since renamed Johnson & Johnson MedTech) engaged in restraint of trade with its so-called case coverage policy: When certain reprocessed devices from other companies were used in electrophysiology procedures, Biosense Webster would not provide the technical case support to operate the CARTO 3 cardiac mapping machine in electrophysiology procedures. This policy was put in place even though the reprocessed devices are cleared by the FDA for marketing and sale under the same 510(k) review process as new devices.

This policy effectively removed the opportunity for electrophysiology labs to realize millions of dollars in savings. Innovative Health 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 Innovative Health's favor on all four claims presented at trial, finding that Biosense Webster violated federal and California antitrust laws. A permanent injunction issued August 27 ordered Biosense Webster to discontinue its case coverage policy and to cease other practices designed to restrict the 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."

While the decision means hospitals can immediately and significantly increase their savings from using reprocessed medical devices, the consequences go further than this. The decision is a message to medical suppliers broadly that you cannot coerce hospitals into deals that don't benefit them. The healthcare industry has been marred for decades by such coercion, in the form of bundled pricing, restrictions to reprocessing programs, tying capital equipment to disposable usage, and other similar practices. The decision is a signal to medical suppliers that monopolistic practices will not be tolerated. As part of the injunction, a hotline will be established for anyone inside these companies or hospitals to report such practices.

About Innovative Health
Innovative Health is an advanced medical device reprocessing company that offers smarter utilization of medical devices in hospitals' cardiology and electrophysiology programs.

SOURCE Innovative Health