The defendants maintain that this case is an attack on the very process by which private equity firms acquire control of public companies, and on their practice of joint bidding. But the case has not only survived a motion to dismiss, but is being expanded to include more billion-dollar deals.

As the Obama administration pushes for health care reform, the Justice Department is sending out the message that it's cracking down on fraud by the pharma industry. Meanwhile, a frequent whistle-blower and its law firm will reap more than $10 million.

The government had charged Johnson & Johnson's Ortho-McNeil unit with illegally marketing the epilepsy drug Topamax for psychiatric conditions for which it hadn't obtained FDA approval.