Mich. AG says drug company to pay state $584,000

WKAR Public Media

Published July 26, 2010 at 4:41 PM EDT

By AP

LANSING, MI –

The Michigan attorney general's office says a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson will pay $584,000 to the state's Medicaid Trust Fund as part of a
lawsuit settlement.

It was announced in April that Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay $75 million to settle claims by the government that it illegally promoted the epilepsy drug Topamax for a variety of psychiatric uses.

Michigan's share of the settlement was decided on Friday and announced Monday by the state attorney general's office.

The Michigan AG's office says an additional $1 million will go to the federal government for its share of state Medicaid claims.

Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals has said it's been cooperating with the government since the investigation began in December 2003.

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