Johnson & Johnson was accused Friday, January 15th, of giving Omnicare Inc. rebates to help promote Johnson & Johnson’s drugs for nursing homes. Johnson & Johnson was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday. The drug J & J pushed Omnicare to use on their patients was Risperdal. This drug was meant to help with Alzheimer’s disease, but the issuers of the drug were neither giving the patients appropriate amounts nor diagnosing the drug properly, which resulted in a higher death risk among the elderly.
The word kickback means to bribe someone, or company; to give something in order to get something in return. J & J drugs gave Omnicare money to promote their products, basically bribed them, to get their products out there, no matter what the cost. However, J & J presented this deal with Omnicare Inc. as “grants” for educational purposes, not the real reason. These kickbacks went on during 1999 – 2004. Omnicare made their biggest purchases from J & J during this time frame, from about $100 million annually to $280 million. Johnson & Johnson’s “grants” to Omnicare Inc. included paying for the information that Omnicare wouldn’t provide and rebates only if Omnicare Inc. would increase the use of J & J’s products. Omnicare willingly agreed to the kickbacks from J & J; saying that they had done nothing wrong.
Omnicare had settled the kickback lawsuits in November; the company paid $98 million plus interest to settle these.
