Submit your Defective Drugs claim details for a free, no obligation case review.
Get Started:
drug_recall zyprexaZyprexa has been receiving negative publicity and rivalry from other products has caused the number of prescriptions written for the antipsychotic to drop 9.7 percent in the third quarter of 2004 compared to the previous year. The long-term safety risks associated to Zyprexa has caused revenue from the drug to suffer losses and pose threat to drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. Zyprexa was the fifth best selling drug in the U.S. in 2003, generating 34 percent, or $4.27 billion, of Eli''s total sales in 2003 alone.
Eli Lilly has been criticized for the many “off-label” uses Zyprexa has, and lawsuits filed have accused the company of misleading doctors into believing it was safe to do by sales persons representing Eli Lilly. Prescribing drugs “off-label” is a common practice, however, drugmakers are not allowed to promote its drugs for treatment methods it was not specifically FDA approved to treat.
Most notably, Zyprexa has been prescribed “off-label” for non-approved mental conditions, such as panic attacks and mood disorders. In rare cases the schizophrenia drug has been prescribed for its weight gain side effect. Zyprexa and anorexia treatments have been used, but some regulators are concerned with what goes on between drug company sales representatives and doctors behind closed door. While Zyprexa and anorexia treatment may be beneficial, whether or not a doctors is prescribing a medicine for unapproved uses because of influential sales representatives or because the doctors believes it to actually be beneficial cannot be determined.
Eli Lilly has been named in a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit along with Janssen Pharmaceuticals representing Louisiana state Attorney General Charles Foti, the state Department of Health and Hospitals and the citizens of the state. The lawsuit alleges unfair business practices and violations of consumer protection laws and seeks damages for increased medical costs due to side effects suffered and for increased Medicaid expenses due to misleading sales pitches. Though the lawsuit was not filed for Zyprexa and anorexia treatment, the drugs were sold as treatment for pediatric uses, which Zyprexa is not FDA approved.
About 100 Zyprexa product-liability lawsuits have been filed against Eli Lilly in federal courts since 2003. Though off-label marketing has become increasingly important in the drug industry, an experienced physician must be able to assess the benefit-risk ratio if choosing especially to prescribe non-approved treatments like Zyprexa and anorexia. For the patient with an eating disorder, suffering additional health effects because of the Zyprexa and anorexia treatment can worsen the condition of the patient.
On March 6, 2008, the State of Alaska provided its opening arguments in a lawsuit against the maker of the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa.
The lawsuit contends that the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly played down the diabetes and weight gain The maker of the popular antipsychotic drug Zyprexa is in talks to settle state and federal claims over the company’s marketing practices for more than $1 billion, potentially the... 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 » Read More "Makers of Zyprexa may Settle Suit"
"High Blood Sugar and Weight Gain Risks"