Coloplast the Danish maker of medical products, agreed to pay about $16 million to settle lawsuits accusing it of injuring women with its vaginal-mesh inserts, three people familiar with the accord said.

Officials of Humlebaek, Denmark-based Coloplast agreed in January to resolve about 400 suits over the inserts, which are designed to support internal organs, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the settlement. The accord will provide an average payment of about $40,000 for each claimant, they said.

Settlement talks are continuing with other manufacturers facing thousands of suits over their vaginal-mesh inserts, including C.R. Bard (BCR) Inc. and a unit of Endo Health Solutions (ENDO) Inc., the people said. Some implant makers, such as Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), the world's biggest maker of health-care products, have declined to discuss out-of-court settlements, the people added.

"It appears that momentum is building for some type of global resolution as more of these vaginal-mesh cases settle," Carl Tobias, who teaches product-liability law at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said in an e-mail.

Ulla Lundhus, a spokeswoman for Coloplast, declined to comment on the report of a settlement. To read the entire article click here.