Zyprexa Gets Strengthened Warning

Contact a Zyprexa Lawyer

or

October 8th, 2007

"High Blood Sugar and Weight Gain Risks"

Strong new warnings were added to the label of the top-selling antipsychotic Zyprexa last week, alerting patients and physicians to the increased risk of high blood sugar and weight gain—both risk factors for diabetes.

Zyprexa has been on the market for more than a decade and is approved for use in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, though it is often prescribed to treat other conditions.

Diabetes Risk

For years, Eli Lilly, the maker of Zyprexa, denied that its drug was more likely to cause high blood sugar in patients than other drugs in the same class. The company had also maintained that weight gain associated with Zyprexa plateaued after several months, but the new label states that patients could continue gaining weight for up to two years.

Sales of the drug have declined since 2004, when concerns about the risk of diabetes began to mount. The drug is still Lilly's best-selling drug with more than 3 million prescriptions written in the first half of this year in the United States alone.

Recently, Lilly requested permission from the FDA to market Zyprexa to teens, even though clinical trials show that metabolic side effects and weight gain are more serious in adolescents than adults.

Zyprexa Lawsuits

More than 28,000 lawsuits filed by patients who developed diabetes or heart problems because of Zyprexa have been settled in recent years, and as many as 1,200 more are pending. The company has so far spent $1.2 billion to settle Zyprexa-related claims.

(Source: New York Times online)

Injured by Zyprexa? It's not too late to protect your legal rights. Contact an experienced Zyprexa lawyer today to find out if you're eligible for compensation.