Johnson & Johnson will pay $158 million to settle allegations that the company improperly marketed its antipsychotic Risperdal to physicians in Texas, which led the state's Medicaid program to overpay for the drug for more than a decade.

The Texas attorney general's office alleged that Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Raritan, N.J.-based subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, promoted off-label uses for Risperdal to physicians, including prescribing the drug to children for schizophrenia and the elderly for dementia.

The drug had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for those indications at that time.

“Johnson & Johnson's scheme to profit from the Medicaid program by overstating the safety and effectiveness of an expensive drug and improperly influencing officials ended up costing taxpayers millions of dollars,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a written statement.

Johnson & Johnson did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement, according to a Janssen spokeswoman. The $158 million will be allocated to Allen Jones, who filed a whistle-blower lawsuit in 2004; his attorneys; the state and the federal government. Jones is a former employee of the Office of Inspector General in Pennsylvania.

“Settlements frequently are reached to bring to a conclusion a long-standing litigation where the potential financial exposure to the company is significant, the outcome is uncertain despite the facts and where there are likely to be long and expensive appellate activities regardless of the outcome at trial,” Janssen said in a statement.

The alleged overpayments occurred from 1994 to 2008.

Johnson & Johnson's marketing of Risperdal has led to several lawsuits alleging improper promotion of the drug. Most recently, the company said in a securities filing that it had reached an agreement in principle to settle with the Justice Department for a misdemeanor charge relating to Risperdal. And in June, the Associated Press reported that Janssen must pay $327 million to the state of South Carolina for deceptive marketing practices relating to the promotion of Risperdal.