Lilly nears another Zyprexa settlement

Eli Lilly is close to settling another [1] slate of Zyprexa marketing cases. According to the company's quarterly report, it's in "advanced discussions" with attorneys general investigating the company for off-label promotions of the antipsychotic drug. Lilly took a $105 million charge against earnings in anticipation of a settlement, the Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports.

This settlement would be the latest in a series. Lilly's marketing practices on Zyprexa have drawn scrutiny from states and the feds. Some of those probes were settled earlier this year when Lilly agreed to pay $1.42 billion to the U.S. Justice Department and a number of states. Previously, the company had pledged to pay $1.2 billion to plaintiffs in liability suits, and another $77 million or so to 33 states, including Alaska.

All of that together, however, doesn't equal what Lilly makes in a single year on Zyprexa; last year sales amounted to $4.7 billion, or 23 percent of the company's revenues.

Twelve state Zyprexa lawsuits remain outstanding, a spokesman told the Health Blog, and this latest settlement effort would wrap up a "subset" of that number. Stay tuned for details.

- read the Health Blog post [2]

Related Articles:
Lilly 'ghostwrote' Zyprexa studies, documents show [3]
Lilly balks at AG's $2B Zyprexa suit [4]
FDA panel to weigh risk of antipsychotics in kids [5]
Insurers still pressing Lilly on Zyprexa [6]
Lilly to pay $1.4B in Zyprexa settlement [1]