A court in Amsterdam has ruled that women’s rights organisation Bureau Clara Wichmann, which represents women who were fitted with leaking Biocell textured breast implants, can start mass proceedings for compensation under the new class action act against American makers Allergan (AbbVie).

Biocell implants have been banned in Europe since 2018 because they have been linked to a rare type of lymphatic cancer and other health problems, including ASIA, an auto-immune syndrome. In 2019 AbbVie withdrew several breast implants from the market, including Biocell.

The new law, which allows for compensation claims, only applies to claims from women whose implants were produced after November 15, 2016, and who belong to the group of Dutch women represented by Bureau Clara Wichmann, the judge ruled.

In the Netherlands some 60,000 women have Biocell implants, of whom dozens have developed lymphatic cancer.

Allergen has so far ignored demands for compensation to carry out the removal of the implants and breast reconstruction, the Bureau Clara Wichmann said.

The case, the organisation said, is complex and will take at least two years to be resolved by the court.