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A federal judge ordered a Johnson & Johnson JNJ unit on Friday to pay the U.S. government $1.64 billion after a jury found it liable in a whistleblower lawsuit for illegally promoting the HIV drugs Prezista and Intelence.
U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi in Trenton, New Jersey, ordered the drugmaker's Janssen unit to pay $360 million for violating the federal False Claims Act.
He also imposed $1.28 billion in civil fines, or $8,000 for each of 159,574 false claims the jury found were submitted to programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
Quraishi set aside the jury's $30 million award for violations of various state false claims laws, citing a lack of evidence. The June 13, 2024 verdict followed a six-week trial.
Janssen had sought a new trial, saying the verdict was tainted by a lack of proof and by erroneous jury instructions.
Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, said it is confident the verdict will be reversed on appeal.
The plaintiffs Jessica Penelow and Christine Brancaccio, who worked as Janssen sales representatives, accused Janssen of improperly marketing Prezista and Intelence for off-label uses.
This included promoting Prezista as "lipid-neutral," meaning it would not affect cholesterol or triglyceride levels, contrary to its U.S. Food and Drug...
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