LANSING – Michigan will receive nearly $42 million from the pharmaceutical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson as part of a national settlement over the use of drug marketing schemes for anti-psychotic drugs to both the elderly and children. Most of the money to be paid to the state will go back into the Medicaid program, which was a major purchaser of the drugs.
The amounts paid to the state are part of an overall $1.2 billion settlement that Johnson & Johnson made to the federal government and the states.
Another company related to the case, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, will pay $400 million in criminal fines after officials for the company pleaded guilty to a criminal misdemeanor charge of misbranding the drug Risperdal.
The two companies had been accused of marketing the two drugs Risperdal and Invega unlawfully. The drugs are anti-psychotics, but were being marketed for purposes not permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The cases actually go back to a period when former Governor John Engler and former Attorney General (later governor) Jennifer Granholm were in office.
As part of the lawsuits against the companies, the state and federal governments charged the companies marketed Risperdal for off-label uses from January 1999 to December 2005. The companies were also accused of marketing Invega for off-label uses from January 2007 to December 2009.
In a press release, Attorney General Bill Schuette said the settlement, “makes a statement that Michigan’s hardworking taxpayers deserve better than to be duped into paying for more than they should have.”
The state will get a total $41.972 million under the settlement.
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