The American Trial Lawyers Association

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has finally admitted that they were at least a little bit deceptive in how they marketed their drug Zyprexa. Zyprexa was designed to reduce hallucinations associated with schizophrenia and bipolar mania, but evidence shows that the company marketed the drug largely off-label. After all, the market for a drug strictly used by mental patients wasn't exactly a cash cow for the company. Zyprexa is only approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and was being marketed for use in milder cases of bi-polar disorder and for dementia.


The admission of guilt, which is a misdemeanor with the FDA, was for the improper marketing of the drug from 1999 - 2001. In addition, the company has also agreed to pay over $1.4 billion in settlements. $615 million of that will be used to settle the criminal charges and about $800 million will be used to settle the civil investigations.


Here's some history of Eli's Zyprexa settlements from News Inferno:


In 2005, Lilly entered into an agreement in principle to settle about 8,000, or 75 percent, of the claims against the company related to Zyprexa, which involved claimants who asserted they developed diabetes-related conditions from their use of the antipsychotic. Also, atypical antipsychotic drugs, such as Zyprexa, were found to double the risk of heart failure and death, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Said Reuters, that new study raised questions about claims that atypical antipsychotics are safer than older generation antipsychotics.

Labels: Eli Lilly, Lawsuit, Marketing, Off-Label, Pharmaceutical, Settlement, Zyprexa