Former Business Partner Sues J&J, Alleges Fraud

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Rottenstein Law Group

 The ASR is not the only current legal headache for Johnson & Johnson (J&J), DePuy Orthopaedics’ parent company. In early July, Oral Cancer Prevention International (OCPI) filed a $70 million lawsuit against J&J alleging that J&J interfered with a sales agreement related to an oral cancer prevention product. According to the complaint, J&J sought to suppress sales of the Oral CDx Brush Test, which was exclusively distributed by another J&J subsidiary.

OCPI alleges that after a study published in Australia identified a link between mouth cleaning products and the development of oral cancer, J&J saw the Oral CDx Brush test as a threat to Listerine, its well-known mouth wash. The company’s executives purportedly did not want to “lend credence to the link between Listerine and oral cancer.” OCPI has levied charges of fraud, tortious interference with contract, and civil conspiracy against J&J.

OCPI’s attorneys filed the claim on July 6th in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. “[J&J] is confident that we have engaged in proper business practices and we look forward to the opportunity to resolve this matter through the legal system,” said Bonnie Jacobs, a J&J spokesperson. J&J is expected to fight the charges.

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