Johnson & Johnson to pay $2.2 billion to end U.S. drug probes

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Johnson & Johnson to pay $2.2 billion to end U.S. drug probes

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/johnson-johnson-said-pay-2-2-billion-end-153425997--finance.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/woJDh1usF6akJY_K3X_W2g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-11-04T191226Z_3_CBRE9A31G1G00_RTROPTP_2_CBUSINESS-US-JNJ-SETTLEMENT.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="A first aid kit made by Johnson &amp; Johnson for sale on a store shelf in Westminster" align="left" title="A first aid kit made by Johnson &amp; Johnson for sale on a store shelf in Westminster" border="0" /></a>By David Ingram and Ros Krasny WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In one of the largest health care fraud settlements in U.S. history, Johnson &amp; Johnson will pay $2.2 billion to end civil and criminal investigations into kickbacks to pharmacists and the marketing of pharmaceuticals for off-label uses, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Monday. From 1999 through 2005, J&amp;J and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc promoted Risperdal for unapproved uses, including controlling aggression and anxiety in elderly dementia patients and treating behavioral disturbances in children and in individuals with disabilities, according to the complaint. Meanwhile, the company paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare Inc, the nation's largest pharmacy specializing in dispensing drugs to nursing home patients, under various guises including &quot;educational funding.&quot; Johnson &amp; Johnson's conduct &quot;recklessly put at risk&quot; the health of children, dementia patients and others to whom the drug was prescribed at a time it was only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat schizophrenia, Holder said.</p><br clear="all"/>

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