Zyprexa Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Eli Lily

Multiple thanks to this press release from the The Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) Project - PAL and its members seek to challenge illegal pricing tactics and deceptive marketing by drug companies, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and other pharmaceutical industry players.

To our knowledge, this is the first case to advance civil charges utilizing racketeering -- RICO -- law against a pharmaceutical company. Here are some links to some background data:

The New York Times article, [Link]
The Infomail: [Link]
The letter to von Eschenbach: [Link]

As seen on RTT News

Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) said that a U.S. District Court judge issued a decision allowing a class action lawsuit to go forward, which alleged that the company fraudulently marketed the atypical antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa, for uses not approved by the FDA. Judge Jack Weinstein, of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of NY, denied Eli Lilly's motion for summary judgment, as well as a summary judgment motion filed by the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit, brought by the New York-based Sergeants Benevolent Association Health and Welfare Fund and others, alleged that Eli Lilly illegally marketed Zyprexa for "off-label" purposes or for uses not approved by the FDA, as well as withholding information about Zyprexa's safety and efficacy. The plaintiffs in this case alleged that Lilly's marketing allowed it to charge a higher price than the drug would have been able to command.

The entirety of the judge's latest ruling can be seen here.

Also of interest is this opinion piece on OpEd News from the Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry: A Closer Look blog. Here are a few snippets

This is a potentially big story, but I have little time to discuss it now. Maybe later...

Okay, MY preliminary comments.

1. But clearly, the legal department at Eli Lilly DID approve these uses. They knew that they could, and probably would, get sued after extending beyond the FDA approved uses. This rises many points:

What kinds of lawyers are these ..?

I have posted about the head of their legal department previously. He is considered a 'fine' attorney. But whose interest IS he looking out for?

How big are the financial rewards that they are getting that they would risk this kind of hideous exposure of their moral bankruptcy ..?

After all, the persons to whom they are illegally selling this drug are youth and old people, who in many cases were given NO CHOICE about whether to take it or not.

How did they drown out ALL voices of dissent about what was going on? Were they taking too much of their own medications ..?

[...]

3. What do the internal memos at Eli Lilly say about all this? I mean, surely, some scenario was drawn up about the pros and cons of this "plan." Some "marketing genius" was in charge of overseeing what happened. Do they give a test to ensure that each person coming into Lilly is psychopath/sociopath or what? The facts must have been available to someone in the organization before this District Cout decision came down.

The investigator in me wants to know, what were they THINKING!!??

[...]

6. Are we to be shocked when a decent ruling is made by a court?

This is the ONLY outcome this sad case could have, actually.

The widespread misapplication of zyprexa has become clear to anyone who has come close to it.

To my mind, what was shocking was to write to the NYT during their series on diabetes (their cause of last year) to inform that they were missing the OBVIOUS.

The cases of advanced diabetes were in those taking antipsychotics for depression - it wasn't the lack of nearby grocery stores and/or poor eating habits, as they so boldly contended. Patients BECAME psychotic and incapable of self care AFTER their new prescriptions were in place.

Now that the NYT has finally seen the light, it wasn't too long before the legal "pro"fession began to really act up about the zyprexa metabolic issue (still overlooking the heart effects issue, imho; it's still under the radar).

But where o where! are the articles about who prescribed this stuff?

Why isn't that shocking to the NYT and other media outlets?

As is now OBVIOUS, a bunch of oblivious doctors, Lilly sales staff, lawyers and marketers worked long and hard to ensure a quality of life for themselves they did not want their "patients" to enjoy. The FDA stood "patiently" by.

So the Court has finally stood up and ruled that all this misapplication must cease. I would be shocked IF they had ruled any other way. And I will be shocked if MORE lawsuits are not filed. Soon. Right away.