A South Carolina state court jury decided late yesterday that a Johnson & Johnson unit violated consumer protection laws by sending doctors a misleading letter in 2003 about the safety and effectiveness of the Risperdal antipsychotic. The jurors also found warning label info was deceptive. And so a judge will now decide whether $360 million in penalties will be paid,Bloomberg News writes.
South Carolina argued J&J's Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit engaged in "unfair and deceptive acts" by claiming Risperdal was better than competing drugs in the letter, which was sent to some 700,000 doctors nationwide, including 7,200 in the state. The FDA issued J&J a warning letter about false and misleading claims that minimized risks, such as diabetes, and overstated benefits.
The state maintained J&J sent the letter in a bid to protect sales. Risperdal has been a huge seller for J&J. Sales peaked at $4.5 billion in 2007 but then began declining after the drug lost patent protection. Last year, Risperdal sales totaled $527 million, which is still more than the fine the drugmaker faces. J&J could be penalized $5,000 for each letter mailed to South Carolina doctors. “After the judge makes a determination as to damages, we will consider our options,” a J&J spokesman tells Bloomberg.
The case is the third of about 10 state lawsuits to be considered by jurors over Risperdal marketing. Last June, a lawsuit brought by Pennsylvania officials, who charged J&J hid the risk of diabetes and misled state regulators into paying millions more than they should have for the medicine, was dismissed (back story). A Louisiana jury ordered J&J in October to pay $257.7 million in damages for making misleading safety claims (see this), although $73 million in legal fees were later added. A West Virginia judge in a 2009 trial awarded $3.95 million, after finding J&J misled doctors about risks and benefits, although the state dropped its claim after J&J won an appeal, Bloomberg notes.
4 Comments
It appears that the market, no matter How skewed it's become, will only tolerate just so much tom-foolery before it self corrects. Since the FDA's non-commitment to the Park Doctrine throws the issue back into the laps of State AGs etc, and Mr Weldon remains at J&J's helm, & the blowback those State AGs are occasioning is erupting into a Billion Dollar plus loss projected in 2011, perhaps the correct response is to simply Allow J&J to implode.
Let the stockholders pull out, value plummet, and the company disintegrate. Someone will buy up the pieces, reorganize, and run it correctly on the next go round.
But then, that would ignore all of those people who've trusted in their government to protect them from being crippled and killed by this drug in the first place.
The crippled are waiting for justice, as are the families of those killed. When will it come?
J&J use to be a highly respected, well run Pharma company. Now look where things have gone. ALl these plant changes were suppose to save money. THey removed the people that really knew how to make a product and replaced them with cheaper employees with no experience and maybe little integrity.
Schizophrenia drugs like Olanzapine are risky and are frequently give *off label* I was prescribed Eli Lilly Zyprexa and suffered permanent damage. Zyprexa damage Claims Still Unresolved
Eli Lilly's #1 cash cow Zyprexa drug sale $38 billion dollars to date has a greater risk of causing type 2 diabetes over the non-user of Zyprexa. So,here we have a conflict of interest that this same company also is a big profiteer of diabetes treatment. -- Daniel Haszard Zyprexa victim activist www.zyprexa-victims.com