It has been recently revealed that Johnson & Johnson is going to pay a huge sum of $1 billion for the purpose of resolving civil investigation for the marketing of the drug Risperdal.

It was further revealed that an agreement was achieved on the same matter by the firm and the US attorney of Philadelphia, according to sources. It was further said that there might be negotiations conducted on a possible criminal plea for the matter.

Since the year 2004, an investigation about sales of the drug Risperdal has been going on but not much success has been reaped until now. There even have been allegations against the firm for having marketed the drug for inappropriate use. There had been talks in the past by the country to resolve the matter, but nothing seems to have worked out till now.

The firm hasn’t commented on the proceedings so far, but it has only been revealed that there has been an agreement reached for settling the matter which will mean the firm will have to pay a huge sum of money, to settle the problems.

In the year 1993, the Food and Drug Administration had approved the drug for people suffering from psychotic problems such as schizophrenia. This meant that the market for the drug was limited and the firm settled on selling the drug for problems such as dementia, anxiety trouble and even bipolar disorder which aren’t the approved uses for the purpose.

“We are committed to ethical business practices and have policies in place to ensure that our products are only promoted for their FDA-approved indication. Janssen is prepared to vigorously defend itself against these claims”, said Mueller.