Miss. Risperdal Suit Lacks Requisite Federal Issues for Removal, Judge Rules

ABERDEEN, Miss. - A state attorney general action alleging that the makers of Risperdal promoted the drug for off-label use and hid information about its side effects does not involve substantial federal issues that would keep it in federal court, a judge has ruled. Hood v. Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., No. 08-166 (N.D. Miss.).

The suit, which also alleges that Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. made false statements to Mississippi's Medicaid program about the medical necessity of the drug, was remanded March 4 by Judge Sharion Aycock of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Missouri.

Judge Aycock said the federal …