Additional settlement from Lilly

Eli Lilly has agreed to settle 18,000 lawsuits on Zyprexa and pay out $500 million. This is in addition to the lawsuits they previously agreed to settle, which now brings Lilly settlement costs on Zyprexa lawsuits to $1.2 billion. From the New York Times article:

"The documents also show that Lilly marketed the drug as appropriate for patients who did not meet accepted diagnoses of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, Zyprexa’s only approved uses. By law, drug makers may promote their drugs only for diseases for which the Food and Drug Administration has found the medicines to be safe and effective, though doctors may prescribe drugs in any way they see fit.

In response to questions about the information in the documents, Lilly has denied any wrongdoing and said it provided all relevant information to doctors and the F.D.A. Lilly has also said it did not promote Zyprexa for conditions other than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder."

Apparently there are more Zyprexa lawsuits pending. Click here to read the entire article. It would be interesting to know exactly how Lilly allegedly promoted off-label uses of Zyprexa -- do the "documents" include certified CME activities?