Risperdal

The battle over antipsychotics use for seniors and their marketing shows no signs of abating. The latest blow is a billion-dollar court decision against a pharmaceutical giant accused of too aggressively pushing the drug Risperdal, which is taken by many seniors with Alzheimer's disease.

Government prosecutors rejected a $1 billion offer by Johnson & Johnson to settle a Risperdal case. Prosecutors alleged the antipsychotic medication was often prescribed off-label to treat aggressive behaviors of elderly nursing home residents with dementia. They are reportedly seeking a settlement closer to $1.4 billion. While doctors may prescribe drugs as they see fit, drug companies can market medications only for uses approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Government prosecutors rejected a proposed settlement worth roughly $1 billion with pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson over questionable marketing tactics for the antipsychotic Risperdal.

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $158 million to settle a Medicaid fraud lawsuit in Texas. The lawsuit accused J & J subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals of giving state officials kickbacks in exchange for putting the antipsychotic Risperdal on an approved list for Medicaid recipients. The suit also claimed that Janssen marketed the drug as being safe and cost-effective, despite being linked to an increased risk of stroke and death in elderly dementia patients. Risperdal is approved only to treat adult schizophrenia. Johnson & Johnson was recently ordered to pay $327 million in South Carolina and $258 million in Louisiana in similar Rispedal lawsuits.

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $158 million to settle a Medicaid fraud lawsuit. The lawsuit accused J & J subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals of giving state officials kickbacks in exchange for putting the antipsychotic Risperdal on an approved list for Medicaid recipients.

In response to a recent report from the Office of the Inspector General, a prominent psychiatrist is defending the practice of prescribing antipsychotic medications for nursing home residents with dementia.

State Medicaid programs spent $329 million more than necessary by allowing certain prescriptions for brand-name drugs to be filled instead of generics in 2009, a conservative think tank said this week.

A jury in South Carolina on Tuesday found Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical unit, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen, guilty of misleading doctors about the safety and effectiveness of the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal.

A federal judge has declined to dismiss a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson. The healthcare giant now will have to defend itself in court against allegations that it paid illegal kickbacks to influence sale of antipsychotics to nursing home residents.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for its alleged role in a kickback scheme with Omnicare, the nation's largest long-term care pharmacy chain.