Eli Lilly Settles Seven State Suits (Confidentially) for Zyprexa Off-Label Marketing

Camryn Hansen

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Earlier this week, Eli Lilly agreed to settle lawsuits filed by seven states, charging the pharmaceutical company with off-label marketing of the strong antipsychotic drug Zyprexa.

The terms of the settlements are to remain confidential, so we don’t know how much the company settled for with any of the states. If approved by the court, the settlements would leave only four pending state suits against Eli Lilly.

Zyprexa, Lilly’s best-selling drug, has been the subject of federal and state investigations into whether the company marketed the medicine, approved for schizophrenia and [severe] bipolar disorder, for unapproved, or off-label, uses. Lilly resolved a marketing investigation in January with the U.S. Justice Department, promising to pay $1.42 billion, including about $362 million to more than 30 states.

The federal settlement left pending 12 lawsuits brought by individual states. Lilly announced July 22 that it would take a pretax charge of $102 million this quarter for settling “several” state lawsuits over Zyprexa. The company last month filed a $22.5 million settlement with West Virginia. -Bloomberg.com

Off-label marketing strategies for Zyprexa included encouraging doctors to prescribe the drug to patients with anxiety, age-related dimentia, and mild bipolar disorder, despite Zyprexa’s link to serious side effects including excessive weight gain and diabetes.

Lawsuits against Eli Lilly also claim that the company has consistently failed to warn doctors and patients of the drug’s side effects. Internal Eli Lilly documents have shown that the drugmaker ignored strong evidence of the Zyprexa-diabetes link while pushing the antipsychotic for off-label use.