1 Boring Old Man

JNJ Told to Pay $1.1B in Arkansas Risperdal Trial
Bloomberg News
By Eric Francis and Jef Feeley
April 11, 2012

JNJ  was ordered to pay more than $1.1 billion by a judge after an Arkansas jury found the company’s officials misled doctors and patients about the risks of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. Judge Tim Fox in Little Rock, Arkansas, today found J&J and its Janssen unit committed more than 238,000 violations of the state’s Medicaid fraud laws by illegally marketing Risperdal over an almost four-year period starting in 2002. Fox found each violation carried a $5,000 fine, pushing the total to more than $1.1 billion.

The penalty is the largest of the three handed down so far against New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J in state cases alleging the second-biggest (JNJ) maker of health products hid Risperdal’s risks and tricked Medicaid regulators into paying more than they should have for the medicine. “I think this ups the ante quite a bit on the other states’ cases targeting J&J’s Risperdal marketing,” Carl Tobias, who teaches product-liability law at the University Richmond law school, said in a telephone interview today. “I think the judge was sending a message – either settle these cases or litigate them at your peril.”

A state jury concluded yesterday that J&J’s Risperdal marketing violated both Medicare fraud laws and Arkansas’s deceptive trade practices statutes. Fox ordered the drugmaker to pay $11.4 million in penalties on the trade practices violations.“We are disappointed with the judge’s decision on penalties,” Teresa Mueller, a spokeswoman for J&J’s Janssen unit, said in an e-mailed statement. “If our motion for a new trial is denied, we will appeal”…

J&J Is Fined $1 Billion Over Risperdal Marketing
Pharmalot
By Ed Silverman
April 11, 2012

… Overall, J&J has not fared well in defending its Risperdal efforts. Last year, the health care giant was ordered by a South Carolina judge to pay $327 million for deceptive Risperdal marketing, which he called detestable. And in 2010, a Louisiana jury ordered J&J to pay $257.7 million in damages for making misleading safety claims, and $73 million in legal fees were later added.

In fact, the string of losses suggests J&J needs to pursue a settlement strategy. You may recall a deal with the feds unraveled after the health care giant balked at paying more than $1 billion. That deal had been reached prior to the recent settlement in Texas, however, prompting the feds to then seek a higher payout. Sources says the feds want J&J to pay anywhere from $1.3 billion to more than $1.8 billion and the Arkansas fine may embolden them to stand their ground.

“Johnson & Johnson needs to wake up and realize they are playing a losing game. They should be running, not walking, to the settlement table,” Patrick Burns of Taxpayers Against Fraud, a non-profit, tells us. “DoJ offered a global settlement for $1.8 billion last month. I am not sure that deal is going to stay on the table after this”…