An employee fired from Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical unit, blew the whistle on promotions of an anti-psychotic drug because of allegations that it was being promoted for use for non-approved purposed. Ms. Lynn Powell claimed that Johnson & Johnson fired her in February 2004 as a result of her complaints about company pressure to encourage physicians to prescribe Risperdal® to children and bipolar disorder patients when it was only approved for adults with schizophrenia.
Johnson & Johnson denied that it promoted Risperdal® other than for uses for which it was approved. The lawsuit is currently pending in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer County.