HEALTH

Drug Firm Fined $7.5 Million: Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. was penalized for shredding documents to thwart an investigation into whether it was illegally marketing Retin-A acne cream as a wrinkle fighter. Declaring Ortho had put itself above the law, U.S. District Judge William G. Bassler in Newark, N.J., fined the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary the maximum $5 million and ordered it to pay $2.5 million in legal fees. Ortho agreed to the penalties in January when it admitted its executives ordered workers to shred the documents. Doctors are permitted to prescribe an approved drug for any condition, but it is illegal to promote a drug for any use not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which has approved Retin-A for acne.