Tag Archives: Omnicare

Kickback Update: The “Scary” Power J&J Yields

18 Jan

As a follow-up to last week’s breaking news about the Johnson & Johnson / Omnicare kickback scandal, some details are emerging (see below).  It seems that J&J was making illegal payments to pharmacies to promote their drugs, which were being reimbursed by Medicare and the good ol’ taxpayer.  So not only did you suffer that achilles tendon rupture, but you and your taxes paid for the marketing efforts behind it, too.

Some of the emails released include the following gems:

  • In 2002, J&J’sLevaquin antibiotic saw a 19 percent share gain in five months. The reaction of one executive, informed of the news in an email was that it was “scary” that the company had such power.
  • When Omnicare demanded money from J&J, the J&J exec wrote in an email to a colleague: “I wasn’t going to go to jail for Dan, Omnicare, or for that matter J&J”.

Here’s the statement J&J gave after the complaint was filed:  “We are reviewing the complaint filed today and will address the government’s lawsuit in court.  We believe airing the facts will confirm that our conduct, including rebating programs like those the government now challenges, was lawful and appropriate.  We look forward to the opportunity to present our evidence in court.”

Read the full story here: http://industry.bnet.com/

Who thinks you should take Levaquin? Johnson & Johnson does!

15 Jan

That is whether you need it or not. Today the US Government filed a lawsuit against Levaquin’s maker, J&J, for paying kickbacks to one of the country’s largest pharmacy chains, Omnicare. It says Omnicare was given illegal payments in the 10s of millions to promote its drugs over competitors.

The government cited a company statement from September 2001 describing Levaquin’s market share at Omnicare’s pharmacies increasing to 66.4 percent from 19.2 percent at the end of 1998. Meanwhile, the market share of a competing antibiotic, Cipro, plunged to around 28 percent, from 80 percent. Apparently, this wasn’t by accident. 

I’m sure there’s more than a few limping and suffering Americans who’d like to show their gratitude to the folks at Omnicare and J&J for their business acumen.

Read more about the booming successes of J&J and Levaquin here or here.