Johnson & Johnson is facing a major appellate court decision in a state anti-fraud lawsuit, which could have nation-wide repercussions on how drugmakers are prosecuted for their marketing strategies. Louisiana is saying that Johnson & Johnson violated a state anti-fraud law when is disseminated promotional materials for Risperdal, an antipsychotic medicine. In the case,...
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Category: Pharmaceutical
Par Pharmaceutical pays $45 million to settle whistleblower case for off label promotion of drug
Par Pharmaceutical Company has agreed to pay $45 million to settle claims that the company launched a long term care sales force to promote the drug MENGACE ES for FDA unapproved uses including weight loss in elderly patients. MENGACE ES was approved by the FDA in 2005 for the treatment of anorexia, cachexia or...
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Medical devices companies bribing government doctors in many countries to buy product. Prosecutions afoot
Biomet Inc, maker of orthopedic products recently agreed to pay $22 million in penalties to settle U.S. allegations that it bribed doctors in Brazil, Argentina and China to purchase their medical products. The company set up subsidiaries in those nations to pay cash to the publicly employed doctors paying them between 10-20 percent of...
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Big Pharma bribing its way into foreign countries
Despite the fact that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits payments to foreign officials or their agents to get business, the evidence indicates that large pharmaceutical companies, publicly traded on U.S. stock exchanges, are paying bribes to foreign officials through subsidiaries which they set up around the world. Because these companies are publicly traded,...
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DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuit update: implant designer says recall was for safety no low earnings
A designer of Johnson and Johnson subsidiary, DePuy's ASR hip replacement system testified in Los Angeles Superior Court that the company initiated a DePuy ASR recall because of safety concerns. Engineer Graham Isaac head of hip replacement development for DePuy testified that a higher than expected failure rate of the device lead to the...
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Shire agrees to settle whistle-blower suit for fraudulent marketing for $57.5 million
Shire PLC, the Irish pharmaceutical company which makes ADHD drugs including Adderall XR and Vyvnase, said it has agreed to pay $57.5 million to resolve a federal investigation into the marketing of its drugs for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Adderall has been approved by the FDA for treatment of ADHD and also to...
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Report: Johnson and Johnson knew of hip failure years before recall
Johnson & Johnson was aware of the significant failure rates of its ASR hip implants a year before the company stopped manufacturing them and two years before they were recalled according to a Wall Street Journal report. This information comes from unsealed documents in one of J&J's 10,000 lawsuits over the all-metal hip replacements...
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Generic Lipitor class action filed against Ranbaxy after tablets recalled due to glass fragments
A class action lawsuit has been filed in federal court against the Indian drug manufacturer Ranbaxy after it recalled its generic version of Lipitor when it was discovered to contain glass fragments. Small glass particles at least 1 mm in size may pose a risk for consumers. Parts of a missing glass shield at...
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SAC facing largest insider trading case ever for $276 million windfall on confidential test results from Alzheimer’s disease drug
Authorities are saying that SAC Capital is likely to face civil fraud charges based on allegations of a massive insider trading scheme in which Mathew Martoma, a former SAC portfolio manager got advanced confidential findings on an Alzheimers drug trial from a medical school professor. SAC bet against the share prices of pharma...
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FedEx and UPS targeted in fed criminal probe for deliveries for illegal onlline pharmacies
UPS and Fedex have acknowledged that they are targets in a Federal criminal investigation of online pharmacies. The companies received subpoenas and the investigation is whether the companies have aided and abetted online pharmacies which illegally ship prescription drugs. Some of the online pharmacies have been making counterfeit drugs available in the U.S. Thousands...
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