The U.S. government is demanding that Johnson & Johnson add another $800 million to an initial proposal to settle a federal civil investigation into marketing of the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal, Bloomberg reports.
According to Bloomberg, the Justice Department is demanding that the company pay about $1.8 billion to resolve the civil claims by the U.S. and some states.
The demand came after the Justice Department and states decided a $1 billion settlement that had been negotiated by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Philadelphia in late December wasn’t adequate.
Bloomberg reports that the U.S. government has been investigating Risperdal sales practices since 2004, including allegations the company marketed the drug for unapproved uses.
Risperdal was once the company’s best-selling drug, with worldwide sales of $24.2 billion from 2003 to 2010, but sales declined the drug’s patent protection expired.
According to Bloomberg, the Food and Drug Administration approved Risperdal in 1993 for psychotic disorders including schizophrenia, but that market is limited and the company tried to sell Risperdal for bipolar disorder, dementia, mood and anxiety disorders and other unapproved uses.
Johnson & Johnson is also dealing with legal action directed at its subsidiary, DePuy.
DePuy manufactured metal hip implants that were voluntarily taken off the market in 2010 because of their high early failure rate. But internal documents show the company marketed the faulty hip implants despite being aware of the early failure concerns.
Those faulty implants have led to widespread lawsuits.
Contact Lopez McHugh for a free case evaluation if you received a DePuy Orthopaedics hip implant and are experiencing side-effects.
See the report here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-12/j-j-said-to-face-u-s-demand-to-raise-risperdal-settlement-offer.html
