CT to get $25M from Zyprexa lawsuit

Connecticut officials say Eli Lilly & Co. has agreed to a $25 million settlement with the state over claims the drugmaker marketed its anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa for unapproved uses and harmed patients.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says federal regulators approved Zyprexa for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. But he says the company also promoted it for dementia, attention-deficit disorder and other unapproved uses that caused some patients to develop diabetes, heart problems and other ailments.

Of the settlement proceeds, $8.5 million will reimburse the state for Medicaid and other health-care expenses related to Lilly’s off-label uses of the drug on Connecticut patients, according to a consent document filed in New York federal court.

The $16.5 million balance constitutes civil penalties that will go into Connecticut coffers, the document shows.

Lilly also agreed to pay $4.9 million in fees and expenses to Seattle law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, whose Cambridge, Mass., office was the state’s outside counsel in the case, court papers and a Blumenthal spokesman say.

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly settled similar federal claims for $1.42 billion in January. A spokeswoman says the company admits no wrongdoing, and it has now settled lawsuits with three of 13 states that sued. The two other settlements are with Alaska and West Virginia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reader response:

“Eli Lilly has received a huge criminal fine over their Zyprexa cash cow,add it all up comes to $4.6 billion, in Zyprexa settlements, fines, litigation. We put Lilly products in our babies they really need to clean up their act and quit with the white wash. Eli Lilly Zyprexa can cause diabetes. I took Zyprexa a powerful Lilly schizophrenic drug for 4 years it was prescribed to me off-label for post traumatic stress disorder was ineffective costly and gave me diabetes. This is a powerful drug that can damage a young person physiologically for life. Please take with caution and learn as much as you can about side effects.” Daniel Haszard http://www.zyprexa-victims.com