DOJ Slaps J&J with Kickback Suit Involving Nation's Largest Nursing Home Pharmacy

The U.S. Department of Justice has slapped Johnson & Johnson and two of its subsidiaries with with a civil false claims suit for allegedly paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare Inc., the nation's largest pharmacy. Omnicare specializes in dispensing drugs to nursing home patients.

According to the suit, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) paid kickbacks to Omnicare to induce the pharmacy to purchase and recommend J&J drugs, including the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, for use in nursing homes.

The suit alleges that J&J did the following to entice Omnicare and its pharmacists into recommending J&J drugs:

1. J&J entered into agreements with Omnicare that entitled Omnicare to increasing levels of rebates from J&J - as long as Omnicare implemented specific programs to increase the prescription of J&J drugs.
2. J&J paid Omnicare millions of dollars for "data," much of which Omnicare never provided. The suit purports that these payments were little more than a way to entice Omnicare into recommending J&J drugs.
3. J&J provided numerous payments under the guise of "grants" and "educational funding" that were, again, an incentive for Omnicare to recommend J&J drugs.

The complaint was filed in two consolidated whistleblower lawsuits presently on file in the District of Massachusetts.

To learn more about the suit, click here.