JOHNSON & JOHNSON FINED $1 BILLION FOR MEDICAID FRAUD IN REPERDAL MARKETING

An Arkansas judge fined Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen subsidiary more than $1.1 billion a day after a jury found the companies hid risks, including diabetes and weight gain associated with Risperdal, an antipsychotic drug. Judge Tim Fox found nearly 240,000 violations under the state Medicaid fraud law and each violation carries a $5,000 fine. The verdict comes three months after J&J agreed to pay $158 million to settle a similar lawsuit brought by the Texas attorney general, who charged Janssen with orchestrating a controversial program that was allegedly designed to boost Risperdal use in the public sector throughout the country. J&J settled one week after the case went to trial amid increasingly damaging testimony. The Texas attorney general had sought $1 billion in damages.