The Justice Department has filed a civil False Claims Act complaint against Johnson & Johnson, charging the New Brunswick, N.J.-based drug manufacturer with paying millions of dollars in kickbacks.
The lawsuit was also filed against two of J&J’s subsidiaries, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Inc.
The complaint alleges that the companies paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare, Inc., the nation’s largest pharmacy that specializes in dispensing drugs to nursing home patients.
Omnicare reached a settlement in November 2009 with the federal government and several states, agreeing to pay $98 million to resolve the company's civil liability under the False Claims Act for allegedly taking kickbacks from J&J.
J&J is being charged with paying kickbacks to induce Omnicare to purchase and recommend its drugs, including the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal, for use in nursing homes.
Government investigators say J&J knew that physicians accepted the Omnicare pharmacists’ recommendations more than 80 percent of the time, and that J&J viewed such pharmacists as an "extension of (J&J’s) sales force."
"We will pursue those who break the law to take advantage of the elderly and the poor," said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. "Kickbacks such as those alleged here distort the judgments of health care professionals and put profits ahead of sound medical treatment."