J&J, based in New Brunswick, N.J., disclosed in August that it reached an agreement to settle a misdemeanor criminal charge related to Risperdal marketing. The company is in negotiations to pay about $400 million more to settle this portion of the investigation, one of the sources said.
"We're not going to comment on rumor or speculation," Teresa Mueller, a J&J spokeswoman, said.
Company officials said in an SEC filing in May that they had reserved funds to resolve the government's claims over Risperdal marketing. The company did not say how much had been set aside. The drugmaker said in an August filing that it added an unspecified amount to the reserve to cover criminal penalties.
When the final settlement will be announced is not clear. The Justice Department typically announces civil and criminal resolutions at the same time in corporate cases.
A majority of U.S. states will join the settlement, the sources said. Which ones will accept the final agreement has not been determined, they said. Each state can decide whether to join the federal government's settlement or pursue its own case.
Typically, states with cases in court continue to pursue their own. Texas alone is asking for more than $1 billion in a case that goes to trial next week.
A jury in Louisiana, weighing only the claim that the company downplayed the drug's risks, awarded that state $257.7 million in 2010. A South Carolina judge last year ordered J&J to pay $327 million over Risperdal sold in the state.
Risperdal is a member of a class of drugs, known as atypical antipsychotics, that includes Eli Lilly & Co.'s Zyprexa and AstraZeneca P.L.C.'s Seroquel.
Lilly, AstraZeneca, and two other J&J competitors making these drugs have paid $2.7 billion to resolve government marketing claims.
