WSJ: Feds want $1B settlement in J&J Risperdal probe

May 13, 2011

WSJ: Feds want $1B settlement in J & J Risperdal

probe

May 13, 2011 — 10:20am ET | By Staton

& could be on the hook for about $1

billion to settle the government probe into its Risperdal

marketing. Prosecutors are looking for a settlement about that

size, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing

sources. That would be the third-largest marketing settlement

between a Big Pharma company and the U.S. government; only

Pfizer and Eli Lilly have made larger deals with the feds.

Earlier this week, J & J disclosed

to the SEC that it had set aside an unspecified amount

to cover a potential Risperdal settlement. The company had

already taken a $1.4 billion charge against first-quarter

earnings to cover legal costs.

The WSJ says J & J officials were surprised that

prosecutors were pressing for such a large settlement.

Prosecutors are trying to put a settlement of Risperdal

marketing claims into context, using as a benchmark Lilly's

$1.4 billion deal to resolve a Zyprexa marketing probe. The

difference between the two was that Lilly's alleged violations

extended over a longer period of time, the WSJ

source said. The particular allegations against J & J

haven't been disclosed.

The Justice Department has settled a number of marketing

cases against Big Pharma over the last several years, and the

pace of those deals increased last year. Drugmakers together

have paid more than $10 billion to settle government probes;

in 2010, the industry's whistleblower settlements topped the

Justice Department charts.

- see the WSJ story

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