3 drugs at issue in subpoenas

Johnson & Johnson today said it has received subpoenas from federal prosecutors in Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco related to the sales and marketing of three drugs.

The drugs at issue are Risperdal, a treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar mania, the epilepsy treatment Topamax, and Natrecor, for heart-failure patients, the New Brunswick, N.J., company said.

The investigations have been disclosed before. The latest subpoenas seek information about the corporate supervision and oversight of J&J's Janssen, Ortho-McNeil and Scios subsidiaries, which sell the drugs, J&J said.

J&J posted Risperdal sales of $4.18 billion last year, an 18 percent increase from 2005. In November 2005, Janssen received a subpoena from the US attorney's office in Philadelphia seeking information about Risperdal marketing and adverse reactions to the drug.

That followed a January 2004 subpoena from the Office of the Inspector General of the US Office of Personnel Management seeking documents on sales and marketing, plus any payments to doctors in connection to sales and marketing and clinical trials for the drug, J&J said.

Janssen received a subpoena from the attorney general in California last September seeking documents on Risperdal's sales and marketing and side effects. Earlier last year, Janssen received a "civil investigative demand" from the attorney general in Texas seeking documents on Risperdal sales and marketing.

Topamax sales were $2.03 billion last year, a 21 percent increase from 2005. Ortho-McNeil received a subpoena from the US attorney in Boston in December 2003 seeking documents relating to the drug's marketing, including alleged "off-label" marketing, J&J said. Doctors often prescribe drugs for uses not described on Food and Drug Administration-approved labels, but pharmaceutical companies cannot market products for off-label usage.

Ortho-McNeil received a second subpoena for documents on Topamax in June 2006.

In July 2005, Scios received a subpoena from the US attorney in Boston seeking documents regarding the sales and marketing of Natrecor; in August that year, the subsidiary was advised the investigation would be handled by the US attorney's office in San Francisco.
(Dow Jones/AP)