Ohio gets $52.7M share of drug settlement

Part of $2.2B from J&J payment to resolve unapproved drug marketing allegations

11/5/2013

COLUMBUS — Ohio’s Medicaid program will receive $52.7 million through a national settlement with a pharmaceutical company.

The $2.2 billion settlement announced Monday involves Johnson & Johnson, one of its subsidiaries, the federal government and several states.

The allegations include paying kickbacks to physicians and pharmacies to recommend and prescribe Risperdal and Invega, both antipsychotic drugs, and Natrecor, which is used to treat heart failure.

The figure includes $1.72 billion in civil settlements with federal and state governments as well as $485 million in criminal fines and forfeited profits.

The agreement is the third-largest U.S. settlement involving a drug maker, and the latest in a string of legal actions against drug companies that allegedly put profits ahead of patients.