Monday, June 15, 2009
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. made Zyprexa its best-selling drug, largely through marketing it to patients with dementia, even though Zyprexa was only approved for use in cases of schizophrenia and the company’s own research showed the medication did nothing to counteract dementia. This revelation surfaced after a federal judge ordered documents released from an ongoing lawsuit against Eli Lilly for its promotion of Zyprexa, which was found as far back as the mid-1990s to not alleviate dementia symptoms. This fact was reported to the Food and Drug Administration in 1999, but that didn’t stop the company from pushing Zyprexa to doctors treating dementia patients, and earning nearly $5 billion in sales in 2008.
Insurance companies are now suing the drug manufacturer for $6.8 billion in damages for marketing the drug for unapproved uses and downplaying its health risks, including excessive weight gain and potentially causing diabetes. Documents released from the civil case also have revealed that a subsidiary of the CVS drugstore chain helped Eli Lilly market Zyprexa to doctors, while it was under contract with insurers to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical company. In addition, Eli Lilly officials wrote medical journal studies about Zyprexa and then asked doctors to author them, according to unsealed company files.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Lilly Sold Drug for Dementia Knowing It Didn’t Help, Files Show (by Margaret Cronin Fisk, Elizabeth Lopatto and Jef Feeley, Bloomberg)
CVS Unit Played Both Sides, Lilly Zyprexa Lawsuit Files Show (by Jef Feeley, Margaret Cronin Fisk and Elizabeth Lopatto, Bloomberg)
Eli Lilly ‘Ghostwrote’ Articles to Market Zyprexa, Files Show (by Elizabeth Lopatto, Jef Feeley and Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg)
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