In Philidelphia today it was revealed that as a result of a law suit filed under the ‘Federal Whistleblower Act’ that drug maker Eli Lilly is on the hook to pay almost a billion and a half dollars over the misuse of one of its flagship drugs Zyprexa. Zyprexa is a prescription only drug and one approved for use as an anti-psychotic.
The suit found that Eli Lilly was heavily promoting the use of Zyprexa in a wide variety of situations that were outside of its intended use. To many, my self included it is hard to understand the somewhat arcane rules implemented by the FDA. While it is fine for a doctor to prescribe a drug for uses other than those approved by the FDA, it is not legal for a drug company to suggest non approved uses.
In the lawsuit Eli Lilly was alleged to have defrauded the the federal government. An investigation showed that up to 40% of Zypraxa sales, many of which were funded through Medicare and Medicaid were made for uses other than the prescribed anti-psychotic treatment.
While a $1.4 billion lawsuit might seem like a huge hit, reality is that Eli Lilly probably will not bat an eye lid, Zypraxa has earned them many billions of dollars since its introduction in 1996.
One has to question the validity of these kinds of lawsuits however. Should a company be sued because it promotes a drug for a use that it was not originally designed for? While the lowly Asprin was designed as a pain medication, it is now recommended in low doses for people with various heart conditions. I take one every day, and I have to admit that I really like the chewy orange flavored ones. New uses for drugs are a fact of life. Should a company be penalized for moving medicine forward?
The other question in my mind is the motives surrounding cases like this one. The law firm involved is Freeland Russo, to quote from their press release:
Freedland Russo is a law firm committed to assisting and fighting for consumers throughout Florida and nationally who have suffered social injustices at the hands of individuals, large corporations, and insurance companies. The firm is well known for handling complex cases involving matters of medical malpractice, pharmaceutical liability, automobile liability, wrongful death, and whistleblower cases. Freedland Russo is based in Weston, Florida. For more information log on to www.westonlawyers.com or call xxx.xxx.xxxx (Number redacted by the author)
In my mind this is yet another class action style lawsuit that achieves nothing but new BMW’s for the attorneys involved. What is not explained in this law suit is how the $1.4 Billion will be distributed. Based on other ‘class action’ lawsuits the ‘victims’ likely will get a check that might buy a 6-pack, or a couple of packs of their favorite cigarettes. The only winners in this ugly environment are the thousand dollar suited lawyers.
Tort reform is way overdue. Who wins in there cases? Only the lawyers! Who loses? Well, in my mind everyone. The consumer loses, whatever the product is, other products from the company will have to be priced higher in order for the company to stay viable. The company loses, it has egg on its face. The ‘victims’ lose, by way of the fact that they actually gain no real recourse in the settlement. What difference will a $20 or $50 check make to the average person?
Maybe the absolute best quote has to be:
Freedland, whose firm represents clients in whistleblower, personal injury and wrongful death cases, said this case was about good old fashioned greed that robbed U.S. taxpayers and put fragile lives in jeopardy.
What a joke! The only winners in this case are the lawyers!
Simon Barrett
http://zzsimonb.blogspot.com
6 users commented in " Zyprexa Manufacturer Eli Lilly $1.4 Billion Poorer "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackZyprexa Claims being Stonewalled.
Where is the money going as many victim claimants haven’t been paid yet?
Something fishy going on here?
Daniel Haszard http://www.zyprexa-victims.com
The fact is their sales force was actively pushing a drug for other uses that it had never been tested for and had no use. Their “penalty” is the amount they earned for one calendear quarter on this drug and as such, is woefully short.
In a most recent settlement(Dec’08) concerning its killer drug, Zyprexa, Eli Lilly has set a NEW market value on a human life.To the families of the countless who have died because of this drug, that figure is now $25,000! To those that are still suffering and slowly dying, they have thrown a couple thousand dollars. And as always, the lawyers are making off with millions and millions! As badly as I could have used a couple thousand dollars, I had no coice but to reject it. It was a stinging slap in the face!!
corrected e-mail address
I’m a victim of Zyprexa and I keep getting the run-around on when I’m to get my settlement from Eli Lily . It’s now to the point where I might have to get on insulin . The doctors have increased my other diabetic medications . I feel the victims of this evil should get their settlement first then have Lily worry about paying the attorneys and whistle blowers . We should not be the ones to be last and pick up the crumbs of a suit settlement that should be all ours anyways . Only the victims got injured by this evil , not the lawyers and the others . God is going to question all those behind Zyprexa . This is a bunch of BULL S , they knew , all of them knew what was going to happen . This they’re way of saying they’re going to make millions at all cost , including human life . They’re not humans but devils in the closet .
You all sound like a bunch of lackeys in the pay of the pharmaceutical industry trying to villainize the lawyers when what the people at Lily did was just pure evil. When reporting to the FDA on the adverse effects of the drug in its clinical trials, someone at Lily made “a clerical error” and moved the decimal point over 2 places so they mislead the FDA and medical community on the likelihood of people getting diabetes from Zyprexa by a factor of 100. Then they made illegal payments to doctors to write prescriptions for Zyprexa – very illegal. Tens of thousands of people got diabetes and its permanent so unless they are hit by a car or something like that, they are all destined to die for complication of the disease after living lives of greatly diminished quality of life.
By the way, the last time I googled diabetes, the top ten returns all led to sites selling Eli Lily drugs; they market themselves as the premier supplier of everything needed to manage diabetes. A cynical individual may suspect that they designed Zyprexa to give people diabetes to create a guarantee stream of revenue from selling insulin, blood sugar testing kits, etc to the Zyprexa users.
Even without proof of that, we know that they lied about the dangers of the drug, marketed it for uses for which it has no proven efficacy, made illegal payments to doctors and handed out death sentences to tens of thousands. To my way of thinking, that many dead bodies demands a few hundred hangings in addition to a few more billion in penalties.
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