Johnson & Johnson said Friday that the worldwide president of its DePuy Orthopaedics division, a maker of artificial hips and knees that has struggled with product recalls and lawsuits over faulty implants, is leaving the company. The executive, David Floyd, submitted his resignation last week and will leave at the end of March, a spokeswoman said. He had been president of the unit since 2007. He is leaving to pursue interests outside the company, the spokesman, Lorie Gawreluk, said, declining to be more specific. DePuy recalled the ASR XL Acetabular hip system last August, after researchers found 13 percent of patients needed a repeat operation to fix problems with the implant. The company took a $280 million charge in the fourth quarter to pay for the recall. The company faces more than 500 lawsuits by patients who had the hip implants.
