Privacy Policy

Mobile, Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer Blog | Long & Waite

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Louisiana Settles with Eli Lilly for $20 Million

Zyprexa is a drug approved by the FDA for treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in adults. It is one of the atypical anti-psychotics, used after the regular anti-psychotics have failed to be effective. It is made by Eli Lilly & Co.

Louisana has been one of 13 states that have sued Eli Lilly for inappropriate marketing of Zyprexa. Eli Lilly had been promoting Zyprexa for its “off-label” uses to treat children, and to treat depression, sleeping problems, attention deficit disorder, and mood swings in adults.

Off-label use is quite legal and any doctor can make a judgment call in an individual case where he or she thinks that a drug would be useful. However, drug companies may not market their drugs for off-label use.

In January, 2009, Eli Lilly paid $1.4 million as a settlement amount to the federal government. Louisiana has now settled its lawsuit with Eli Lilly for $20 million. Louisana Attorney General, James Caldwell, says that about $17 million will go into the general fund and about $3 million will go to reimburse Louisiana’s Medicaid fund which has paid Zyprexa costs for unapproved use.

None of the $20 million will be used to pay attorney fees for Louisiana’s attorneys in this case – Eli Lilly will be paying those amounts, which are undisclosed.

Of the 13 states who sued Eli Lilly, Louisana is the eleventh to settle. Others have been Connecticut, Alaska, Idaho, West Virginia, Utah, South Carolina, Montana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Arkansas. Minnesota and Pennsylvania still have pending lawsuits.

Defective Drugs is a type of lawsuit filed when a drug has not been properly tested by the FDA, or turns out to have unexpected and harmful side effects, or has been marketed with inadequate labeling information and warnings. In this case, Zyprexa has not been found defective; it was the company’s marketing efforts that were attacked as improper.

Zyprexa has had a lot of bad publicity for a few years now because it can cause weight gain, diabetes and even death if taken for long enough. Prescription drug cases can be filed without the drug being recalled from the market. The FDA has limited power to order a product off the market and usually, if a product is found to be defective, the manufacturing company will pull it from the market until problems are corrected. Please see our page on The Role of the FDA in Drug Recalls for more details.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by a drug’s side effects and would like to know more about your legal position, please contact our law office for a free case evaluation.

posted by JennyK at 2:17 PM