Eli Lily under investigation for psych drug marketing practices

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the marketing practices of Eli Lilly and Co., the drugmaker said on Thursday, the most recent in a slew of probes into sales practices by big pharmaceutical companies. Lily said the investigation likely targets promotional practices for its best-selling product, the $4.3 billion-a-year schizophrenia treatment Zyprexa, as well as antidepressant Prozac.

Federal and state investigators in Pennsylvania have been particularly active in pursuing drugmakers and other health-care companies that might be engaging in improper practices to boost their profit.

Other drugmakers in recent years have had to pay sizable fines to settle allegations that they had bilked the federal Medicare and state Medicaid insurance programs for the poor and elderly by overcharging for their products.