The AP (1/15) reports, “Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. is close to agreeing to a $1.4 billion settlement related to a government investigation into the marketing of its top seller Zyprexa, according to a New York Times report.” There were documents discovered that “show Lilly downplayed the drug’s risks and marketed it for unapproved uses” and “lawsuits have made similar claims, accusing Lilly of pushing doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for ‘off-label’ conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.”
The New York Times (1/15, Harris) reports, “The amount of the settlement is a record sum for so-called corporate whistle-blower cases,” and “among the charges, Lilly has been accused of a scheme stretching for years to persuade doctors to prescribe Zyprexa to two categories of patients — children and the elderly — for whom the drug was not federally approved and in whom its use was especially risky.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
