Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $1.64 Billion for Off-Label Marketing

On March 28, almost a year after a jury’s verdicts, a federal judge ordered Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit to pay an enormous $1.64 billion in penalties for illegally promoting its HIV drugs, Prezista and Intelence. As reported by CNBC, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi in Trenton, New Jersey, handed down the ruling following a whistleblower lawsuit that accused Janssen of misleading healthcare providers and defrauding federal health programs.

The case was initiated by former Janssen sales representatives Jessica Penelow and Christine Brancaccio, who claimed the company engaged in off-label marketing of its HIV medications. According to Reuters, they alleged that Janssen falsely promoted Prezista as "lipid-neutral," implying it would not impact cholesterol or triglyceride levels, despite the absence of FDA approval for such a claim. Additionally, the lawsuit accused the company of compensating physicians to endorse these drugs at dinners and speaker programs, though the jury did not find Janssen liable for the kickback allegations. However, the jury did determine that the company engaged in off-label marketing violations.