Johnson and Johnson filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against it under the False Claims Act for allegedly paying kickbacks to Omnicare, Inc to push Johnson & Johnson drugs to nursing home patients. Omnicare earlier settled a lawsuit against it for $98 million for accepting such kickbacks, although Omnicare denied liability.
Johnson & Johnson argued that its payment programs, such as giving customers higher rebates based on the share of the manufacturer’s product used and getting its drugs on provider formularies were common commercial practices. The company further claims that there is no evidence that any patient was prescribed an inappropriate drug.
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