Antipsychotic Drug Maker Under Fire for Promoting Off-Lable Use and Causing Diabetes

Exerpt from Lawyers and Settlements "Lilly Receives Zyprexa Greetings From Capitol Hill " - April 27, 2007. By Evelyn Pringle

antipsychotic drug...According to the March 23, 2007, New York Times, Zyprexa costs more than $300 a month and is the single biggest drug expense for state Medicaid programs, with spending of more than $1.3 billion in 2005.

Although Zyprexa is FDA-approved only for the extremely limited use of treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in adults, SEC filings show Zyprexa is Lilly's top-selling drug with overall sales of $4.36 billion in 2006.

Medicaid records show that Lilly promoted Zyprexa off-label to patients of all ages for unapproved uses in treating anxiety, sleep disruption, mood swings, attention deficit hyperactivity and dementia.

According to Pennsylvania psychiatrist Dr Stefan Kruszewski, Zyprexa increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks and stroke and taxpayers are now footing the bill to care for patients injured by the drug.

On June 12, 2006, the New York Times reported that the cost of atypical-induced medical conditions was taking a toll on publicly-funded health care programs. "Mental illness is itself a money sponge," it noted, "an expense borne largely by tax dollars."...

...According to Mr Gottstein in a February 13, 2007, interview with the Anchorage Daily News, Lilly's hidden document showed the rate at which Zyprexa causes diabetes, massive weight gain and other metabolic problems and that Lilly trained sales staff to mislead doctors about the drug's association with diabetes and illegally promoted Zyprexa for off-label use with children and the elderly.

Families of deceased Zyprexa victims want criminal prosecutions. "Lilly executives should go to prison for knowingly being responsible for people's deaths, shattered families; ruined and grieving families," says Ellen Liversridge, whose 39-year-old son gained nearly 100 pounds while taking Zyprexa before he lapsed into a coma and died 4 days later of profound hyperglycemia in October 2002....

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