Lawyers representing Pennsylvania and Johnson & Johnson both argued their side before a panel of seven Commonwealth Court justices on Wednesday, in a case involving allegations that Johnson & Johnson defrauded Pennsylvania out of millions of taxpayer dollars.
At issue is whether the company misled Medicaid officials about the risks of antipsychotic drug Risperdal and marketed it for unapproved uses, duping the state into improperly paying millions more for the drug than it should have.
According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a lawyer for Johnson & Johnson argued that Pennsylvania failed to prove its case. But a lawyer for the state produced two letters from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration criticizing a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary’s promotional materials on Risperdal as false and misleading. (more…)
A new medical device looks promising for treating stroke patients by removing blood clots, according to a Fox News report.
Although published studies say a given treatment is effective, a host of unpublished studies may have reached precisely the opposite conclusion, according to Claire McCarthy, M.D., a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Commonwealth Court judges are scheduled to hear an appeal of the decision dismissing Pennsylvania’s 2008 lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson. The company is accused of fraudulently profiting from sales of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal through the Medicaid program.
Aphasia, a condition that affects anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of stroke survivors, impairs a patient’s ability to speak, read, write or understand others. But according to the National Aphasia Association, the condition does not affect intelligence.