Johnson & Johnson to pay $2.2bn in kickbacks probe

In one of the largest healthcare fraud settlements in US history, Johnson & Johnson will pay $2.2 billion (€1.6bn) to end civil and criminal investigations into kickbacks to pharmacists and the marketing of pharmaceuticals for off-label uses, US attorney general Eric Holder has said.

The resolution of the long-running case covers the marketing of the anti-psychotic drugs Risperdal and Invega and the heart drug Natrecor over several years.

From 1999 through 2005, J&J and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals promoted Risperdal for unapproved uses, including controlling aggression and anxiety in elderly dementia patients and treating behavioural disturbances in children and in individuals with disabilities, according to the complaint.