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August 31, 2012

ME gets $2.7M in record pharma settlement

Maine will receive $2.7 million after a record-setting settlement with the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, over the company's marketing practices of certain anti-psychotic drugs.

In total, the company will pay $181 million to 36 states, making the resolution the largest multi-state consumer protection-based pharmaceutical settlement, according to Bloomberg News.

Maine's attorney general, William J. Schneider, announced the settlement in a press release, which stated that a complaint and consent decree filed in Kennebec County Superior Court Thursday resolved claims that Janssen violated the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act by marketing a group of anti-psychotic drugs for uses that had not been approved by the Federal Drug Administration.

The complaint alleged that the company marketed the drugs Risperdal, Risperdal Consta, Risperdal M-Tab and Invega for off-label uses targeted toward patients with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, depression and anxiety.

In addition to the financial settlement, the company agreed to a series of additional requirements in effect for five years that aim to prevent the marketing of the company's anti-psychotic drugs for unapproved uses.

In a separate case, Schneider announced that the state will receive $332,527 as a result of an antitrust lawsuit against Hachette Book Publishers LLC, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster Inc. That suit, filed by 54 attorneys general across the country, alleged that the company conspired to illegally fix the prices of electronic books, or e-books.

Compensation in that case will go to Maine customers who purchased e-books from publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Penguin between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.

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