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drug_recall zyprexaSince 2003, roughly 100 Zyprexa product liability lawsuits have been filed against Eli Lilly and Co. The drugmaker asked some lawyers in October 2004 to tone down the mention of Zyprexa side effects in advertisements. Eli Lilly has also sent letters to U.S. physicians assuring them Lilly is responding to “aggressive” legal ads and the company will offer limited legal help if the doctors are sued for prescribing the schizophrenia drug.
Eli Lilly''s Zyprexa litigation concerns are well founded considering negative publicity and competition from rival products is taking away from the 34 percent of total sales, or $4.27 billion Zyprexa generated for the company in 2003. In the third quarter of 2004, Zyprexa prescriptions written fell 9.7 percent compared to one year earlier, and U.S. sales for the drug are expected to fall 12 percent in 2004 over the year prior. If Zyprexa litigation worsens, overall profits for the company could be greatly injured.
In 2003, Zyprexa was the fifth best selling drug, but long-term safety risks associated to the popular drug is causing prescription volume to slip and Zyprexa litigation increase. Though the company hopes to stabilize growth of Zyprexa by the end of 2004 with a new “offensive” focus on the merits of treatment with Zyprexa, according to a Friedman Billings Ramsey report on Lilly to investors, Zyprexa litigation is showing some signs of increasing.
The around 100 Zyprexa product liability lawsuits filed have been consolidated under one judge in the Eastern District of New York, but about 30 to 50 other cases have also been filed in state courts. Some suits charge Eli Lilly''s Zyprexa liability lies in its failure to warn doctors and patients of potential serious effects from taking the drug, including diabetes, weight gain and high blood pressure. One of the most serious charges that threaten Zyprexa liability is that the drug causes the blood sugar disorder of diabetes.
A new study presented October 20, 2004 at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry meeting has echoed the discoveries about Zyprexa when used in adults. The study is believed to be the first to find the link between Zyprexa and insulin problems in children and teens. Prescribing antipsychotic drugs like Zyprexa to children was already a cause of debate among critics that believe the growing widespread use of antipsychotics among children, especially since safety data is often lacking, is cause for a worrisome trend.
Zyprexa litigation may intensify for Eli Lilly in response to the recent study. Up until the research on children and teens was performed, researchers had been assuming the risk among younger patients to be present, just as they have been found in adults. Dr. Mark Riddle, the study author, believes the antipsychotic drugs may have an independent effect on insulin over and above the effect of excess weight. In Louisiana, an attorney representing the state Attorney General, the state Department of Health and Hospitals and the citizens of the state has filed a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit against Eli Lily and Co., as well as Janssen Pharmaceuticals for alleging unfair business practices and violations of consumer protection laws by misleading doctors into believing Zyprexa was safe for pediatric use when it has not been FDA approved for it.
Some industry analysts believe the Zyprexa sales slump will continue, even accelerate. Zyprexa litigation challenges will play into it heavily, as well as the ruling a judge is expected to soon make on a challenge to the drug''s U.S. patent, which could open the door to generic competition. Depending on the pending damage suits against Lilly alleging Zyprexa caused diabetes and other effects, Zyprexa litigation may only worsen.
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"