After two years of negotiations, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries have agreed to pay more than $2.2 billion to resolve criminal and civil lawsuits that alleged the healthcare giant illegally marketed its Risperal antipsychotic and two other medicines, and also paid kickbacks to physicians and Omnicare, the largest nursing home pharmacy to boost prescriptions.
In announcing the deal, which resulted from multiple investigations into J&J business practices over the past decade, the US Department of Justice called the agreement one of the “largest healthcare fraud settlements in US history.” The criminal fines and forfeiture total $485 million, while the civil settlement with the federal and state governments amounts to $1.72 billion (here is the criminal information, the plea agreement, one civil settlement and another civil settlement, and a link to all of the exhibits).
“The conduct at issue in this case jeopardized the health and safety of patients and damaged the public trust,” US Attorney General Eric Holder says in a statement, whose office relied, in part, on various lawsuits filed by whistleblowers, some of whom were J&J employees. They will collect, in total, nearly $168 million.
“…Through these alleged actions, these companies lined their pockets at the expense of American taxpayers, patients, and the private insurance industry. They drove up costs for everyone in the health care system and negatively impacted the long-term solvency of essential health care programs like Medicare,” Holder continues. “...These are not victimless crimes.”
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