Johnson & Johnson to Pay Fifth Largest Settlement in the United States

Johnson & Johnson was required to pay $257.7 million to the state of Louisiana for wrongfully marketing the antipsychotic drug Risperdal.  The case centered on claims that J&J and Ortho-McNeil Janssen sent correspondence letters in 2003 to 700,000 doctors which labeled Risperdal as safer then its competitors and minimized its links to diabetes.   The verdict comes as the second trial loss in a state lawsuit brought over the misleading marketing of the drug. The spokesperson for J&J’s Ortho-McNeil Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit said the company will appeal.  J&J’s settlement is the 5^th largest in the U.S. so far to date.

For more information see:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-28/j-j-owes-louisiana-for-risperdal-claims-jury-told-update1-.html