A unit of King Pharmaceuticals Inc. (KG) has agreed to pay $42.5 million to settle charges that it paid doctors to promote and prescribe the firm's morphine drug Kadian, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit brought against Alpharma Inc., a unit of King, by a whistleblower in 2006. The suit alleged that Alpharma misrepresented the safety of Kadian and paid doctors to prescribe the medicine from January 2000 through December 2008.

"Illegal marketing of pharmaceutical drugs jeopardizes the public's confidence in our health-care system," said Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil division.

The money will be split among the federal government, states and Debra Parks, the person who filed the lawsuit in 2006. Parks will receive $5.33 million.

-By Jared A. Favole, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9207; jared.favole@dowjones.com
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