Johnson & Johnson, Omnicare, Risperdal and What It Means to You

By: Laura Bramly

I just about fell off my chair Saturday morning when I read in the New York Times about Johnson & Johnson giving kickbacks to geriatric pharmacists to encourage doctors to prescribe Risperdal for their patients with dementia. I knew that there were issues with "Big Pharma," but I could not imagine, or did not want to imagine, that the issues were so blatant, with so much "chutzpa" on the part of the pharmaceutical companies that they would actually give kickbacks for prescriptions.

According to the complaint brought against Johnson & Johnson by two ex-employees of Omnicare, "Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., and two of its subsidiaries, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, paid tens of millions of dollars to induce Omnicare to buy and recommend Risperdal for elderly patients as well as the drug maker’s prescription pain relievers Duragesic and Ultram, and the antibiotic Levaquin."

Some explanation is in order for us laypeople, so let's pull this statement apart. Read more...