3M Health Care

3M (NYSE: MMM) + is nearing a settlement with attorneys representing hundreds of thousands of veterans who say the company’s earplugs failed to protect them from hearing loss, according to media reports citing people close to the discussions. 

Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal say the manufacturing giant would pay $5.5 billion under the tentative deal. Experts had previously suggested that 3M could end up paying much more if all the cases went to trial.

The news comes more than two months after a federal judge in Indianapolis rejected 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. 3M had sought to use the bankruptcy as a strategy to shield itself from some liability and reach a deal with plaintiffs’ lawyers, but U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham said 3M’s financial support of the subsidiary meant that it was too early to seek protection.

Meanwhile, 3M continue…

Lawyers representing present and former U.S. military members want a U.S. bankruptcy judge to dismiss 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies’ Chapter 11 filing.

The tort claimants committee filed a motion to dismiss in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Southern Indiana on Feb. 3. They’ve long claimed that having Aearo file for bankruptcy was a strategy to deny the present and former servicemembers the relief they seek from hearing loss caused by allegedly defective earplugs. 3M potentially faces billions of dollars in losses from the more than 230,000 lawsuits.

Now the lawyers filing the lawsuits want Aearo’s bankruptcy case dismissed.

Their dismissal motion came just days after Johnson & Johnson lost an appeal over an arguably similar “Texas two-step” type of strategy in which a spun-out LLC called LTL Management had filed for Chapter 11. In J&J’s case, the company fa…

Maplewood, Minnesota-based 3M’s V.A.C. delivers negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). The company said it’s the only NPWT tech to hit the milestone of 2,000 published, peer-reviewed medical journal studies.

According to a news release, V.A.C. therapy accounts for more than 75% of published NPWT clinical evidence.

“Clinical evidence has always been a foundational element to establishing credibility for V.A.C. Therapy and our NPWT products in the wound care community,” said Dr. Ronald Silverman, M.D., 3M Health Care SVP of clinical affairs and CMO. “Published studies have also helped to promote adoption of NPWT and spur therapy innovations, including 3M Prevena therapy for incision management, 3M Veraflo therapy for instillation therapy for open wounds, 3M AbThera…

A new 3M Veraflo Cleans Choice Complete dressing kit and a software upgrade for the 3M VAC Ulta therapy unit were introduced at no increased cost to the customer.

3M said in a news release that the new offerings help to simplify the care delivery processes for clinicians using Veraflo negative pressure wound therapy with installation and help to make dressing changes easier, faster and less painful for patients when compared to previous Veraflo therapy dressings.

Veraflo therapy is used for patients with open soft issue wounds to help cleanse and stimulate the formation of granulation tissue. The company pointed to a recent publication — titled Effects of Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy with Instillation versus Standard of Care in Multiple Wound Types: Systematic Literature Rev…

3M (NYSE: MMM) announced today that it plans to spin off its Health Care business by the end of 2023.

The new Health Care business will be a roughly $9-billion-a-year company with a focus on wound care, oral care, healthcare IT and biopharma filtration. 3M officials argue that the transaction will better position Health Care to innovate. 3M will retain a 19.9% stake in Health Care that it will monetizedover time.

“Today’s actions advance our ability to create value for customers and shareholders,” 3M CEO Mike Roman said ina. news release. “Disciplined portfolio management is a hallmark of our growth strategy. Our management team and board continually evaluate the strategic options that will best drive long-term sustainable growth and value. The decision to spin off our Health Care business will result in two well-capitalized, world-class companies, well positioned to pursue their respective priorities.”