This is huge and the penalty falls on the Janssen Pharmaceutical division 
breaking the Medicaid law. A letter sent out in 2003 said Risperdal was safer than the competition to tons of doctors.
The fine was calculated by doing some math during a 3 and a half year period so the minimum fine here was 5k so times that by more than 200,000 Medicaid prescriptions. J and J has asked for a new trial and said they would appeal if a new trial was denied. Back in 2010 J and J was involved with a whistleblower/kickback case with seniors.
Omnicare Agrees to Pay Close to $100 Million To Settle Case with Justice Department – Paying and Receiving Kickbacks From Ivax and Johnson and Johnson
There have been a few other cases with Risperdal and add on recalls and hips for J and J and it’s not been a great couple of years for them. BD
A state judge in Arkansas ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay a $1.1 billion fine after a jury found the company had minimized the risks of its antipsychotic drug Risperdal.
Judge Tim Fox determined that J&J and its Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit repeatedly broke the state's Medicaid fraud law, the Associated Press reports.
One big issue: a letter sent to thousands of doctors in the state 2003 that said Risperdal was safer than rival medicines, according to Bloomberg.
Each Risperdal prescription for a Medicaid patient during a 3½-year period represented a violation of state law. Multiply $5,000, the minimum fine, by more than 200,000 prescriptions, and you get the lion's share of the penalty.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/04/11/150429867/ark-judge-socks-johnson-johnson-with-1-1-billion-penalty?ft=1&f=1128&sc=tw
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