LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has officially joined the lengthening queue of state AGs suing "Big Pharma" companies over alleged mis-selling of anti-psychotic drugs.

With help from Houston law firm Bailey Perrin Bailey (BPB), McDaniel sued Johnson & Johnson Inc. and affiliate Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. last week in state court over their promotion of Risperdal. The AG claims the drugmaker illegally urged doctors to prescribe Risperdal to Medicare patients for "non-medically necessary uses."

McDaniel and BPB will shortly file similar suits against Eli Lilly & Co. and Astra Zeneca over their respective anti-psychotic medications Zyprexa and Seroquel. If all the suits succeed, BPB could pull in around $90 million from a possible $600 million payout, LNL reported in September. The firm's website promotes its industry-leading success in so-called "atypical anti-psychotics" suits.

Last week's lawsuit made McDaniel the 11th state AG to sue the three drugmakers over mis-promotion anti-psychotics and the fifth to sue Janssen over Risperdal. The suit also alleged Janssen and J&J omitted side-effect warnings from Risperdal labels, AP reported.

Arkansas's Medicaid spent about $200 million on the three drugs over the eight-year period in question, McDaniel has estimated, and state law allows treble damages for the alleged breaches. McDaniel's recent action does not specify damages sought, AP noted.

The Massachusetts D.A. recently won damages over $500 million from drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb Co. over the promotion of its anti-psychotic drug Abilify, LNL reported early last month.