Final Judgment Could Exceed $1 Billion in HIV Drug False Claims Case Against Janssen
June 19 2024 - 1:45PM
Business Wire
Last week’s $150 million jury verdict in a whistleblower case
against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Products, LP could
grow to more than $1 billion in damages and civil penalties,
according to the lead trial attorneys in the case.
“This jury verdict could result in one of the largest civil
judgments ever obtained under the False Claims Act,” says Josh Russ
of Dallas-based trial boutique Reese Marketos LLP. “With mandatory
trebling of damages and the imposition of civil penalties between
$5,500 and $11,000 for each of the nearly 160,000 false claims
found by the jury, we expect that the judgment will only grow in
scale as the Court makes a final determination of the award.”
Reese Marketos was retained to try the case in 2022 by
co-counsel Berger Montague PC of Philadelphia.
“The Berger team did exceptional work over many years to
assemble fact and expert testimony and prevail on Janssen’s summary
judgment motion,” says the firm’s name partner, Pete Marketos.
“Then it came time for a jury trial—and that is where our firm is
second to none.”
The claims against Janssen were brought by two former sales
representatives alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act
and numerous analogous state statutes resulting from the company’s
off-label promotion of the HIV drugs Prezista and Intelence.
Janssen hired two large law firms—Troutman Pepper and Skadden
Arps—to defend against the False Claims Act suit. Throughout the
litigation, Janssen denied every allegation and adopted a “kitchen
sink” defense, which continued through closing argument before the
jury. But Marketos pointed to the preparation and courtroom skill
of the entire RM trial team—which included Marketos, Russ, Andrew
Wirmani, Adam Sanderson, and Whitney Wendel—as an enormous
advantage.
Evidence submitted during the six-week trial demonstrated that
Janssen violated the law by causing the submission of drug claims
to Medicare, ADAP, and Medicaid for uses not approved as safe and
effective by the Food and Drug Administration, and for uses not
medically reasonable and necessary. Testimony by former Janssen
employees—and the cross-examination of its two senior
executives—confirmed that corporate management orchestrated the
plan to increase sales of the two drugs by promoting their use
beyond their labels and misleading doctors about the potential side
effects.
“This verdict sends a powerful message to any corporation that
attempts to enrich its bottom line by skirting regulatory agency
standards,” says Wirmani. “Even without the direct involvement of
the government, this result is a testament to the persistence of
the entire legal team and these whistleblowers to hold a giant
corporation accountable.”
The verdict is the second False Claims Act case tried to a
significant jury verdict by Reese Marketos attorneys in the past
three years.
The case is U.S. et al., ex rel. Jessica Penelow et al. v.
Johnson & Johnson et al., No.3:12-cv-07758, in the U.S.
District Court for the District of New Jersey.
About Reese Marketos
Reese Marketos LLP represents clients in high-stakes disputes
involving False Claims Act litigation, complex commercial
litigation, commercial fraud, patent litigation, antitrust, and
regulatory litigation.
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