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news.The US Justice Department has filed a civil False Claims Act complaint against drug manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) of New Brunswick and two of its subsidiaries, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems. The complaint alleges that these companies paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare.
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In November 2009, the US, several states, and Omnicare entered into a $98m settlement agreement that, among other things, resolved Omnicare’s civil liability under the False Claims Act for taking kickbacks from J&J.
Reportedly, in its complaint against J&J, the US alleges that the company paid kickbacks to Omnicare to induce the nursing home pharmacy company to purchase and recommend J&J drugs, including the anti-psychotic drug, Risperdal.
According to the complaint, J&J understood that Omnicare’s pharmacists have reviewed nursing home patients’ charts at least monthly and made recommendations to physicians on what drugs should be prescribed for those patients.
The government further alleges that J&J knew that physicians accepted the Omnicare pharmacists’ recommendations more than 80% of the time, and that the company viewed such pharmacists as an ‘extension of (J&J’s) sales force.’
In order to induce Omnicare and its pharmacists to recommend J&J drugs, the company paid kickbacks to Omnicare in numerous ways. First, the complaint alleges that J&J entered into agreements with Omnicare by which Omnicare was entitled to increasing levels of rebates from J&J so long as Omnicare implemented specific programs to increase the prescriptions of the company’s drugs.
Second, the complaint alleges that J&J paid Omnicare millions of dollars for data, much of which Omnicare never provided. According to the complaint, the true purpose of these payments was to induce Omnicare to recommend J&J drugs.
Third, the complaint alleges that J&J made various other substantial kickback payments to Omnicare, calling the payments grants and educational funding, even though their true purpose was to induce Omnicare to recommend J&J drugs.
The US has filed its complaint in two consolidated whistleblower lawsuits presently on file in the District of Massachusetts.
Tony West, assistant attorney general for the civil division of the department of justice, said: “We will pursue those who break the law to take advantage of the elderly and the poor. Kickbacks such as those alleged here distort the judgments of health care professionals and put profits ahead of sound medical treatment.”