The US government has alleged in a lawsuit that Johnson & Johnson made a monetary agreement with US pharmacy group Omnicare to promote its antipsychotic drug Risperdal for elderly patients.

A Justice Department summary on the lawsuit says Johnson & Johnson paid Omnicare, which is the largest US pharmacy for nursing homes, to promote certain drugs, including Risperdal.

Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems and its subsidiary Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals have been accused of paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare.

The government is alleging that J&J turned Omnicare's pharmacists into a de facto sales-force, as they had the responsibility of making recommendations to physicians on what drugs should be prescribed for patients of nursing homes.

It has been suggested by prosecutors that the physicians accepted the Omnicare pharmacists' recommendations more than 80 percent of the time.