A federal judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit to pay $1.64 billion for illegally promoting HIV drugs Prezista and Intelence.
U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi imposed a $360 million penalty and $1.28 billion in civil fines, to be paid to the federal government, for 159,574 false claims submitted to federal healthcare programs, according to court documents reviewed by Beckers.
The ruling follows a June 13 jury verdict that found Janssen violated the False Claims Act by marketing the drugs for off-label use. The lawsuit, brought by whistleblowers Jessica Penelow and Christine Brancaccio, accused the company of misleadingly promoting the drug Prezista as being lipid neutral and paying physicians to endorse the drugs.
Jurors found the company liable for some off-label marketing claims.
Mr. Quraishi ruled that Janssen’s actions directly led to false claims being submitted and tripled the jury’s original $120 million damages award to $360 million, as allowed under the False Claims Act.
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