Medical device company Synthes and former executives have been sued in California over the deaths of two patients who, according to the lawsuit, died after clinical trials of a Synthes bone cement product that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Synthes executives were sentenced to prison terms late last year over charges related to the case.
The edlerly patients "died after their blood pressure dropped precipitously and doctors could not revive them, though the bone cement could not be definitively identified as the cause of death," the Inquirer said.
Synthes, which has its U.S. headquarters in West Chester, Pa., has agreed to be sold to Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ).