• Bloomberg, Monday, June 6, 2011 10:45 AM

A judge in South Carolina has ordered Johnson & Johnson unit Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals to pay more than $327 million in penalties for deceptively marketing the antipsychotic drug Risperdal as safer and better than competing medicines.

The judge said the company violated the state's consumer protection laws with a letter it sent to doctors in 2003 touting Risperdal as superior to rival drugs. He said the company also violated rules with warning labels that were deceptive. Janssen officials said they'll appeal Couch's order

Risperdal's global sales peaked at $4.5 billion in 2007, but declined after the company lost patent protection.

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