-FDA News
03/28/2008 - Eli Lilly has agreed to pay Alaska $15 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company made deceptive claims about Zyprexa, concealed the drug’s side effects and marketed it off-label for Medicaid recipients.
Making no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement, Eli Lilly guaranteed that Alaska would be “treated as favorably as any other state that may settle with Lilly in the future over similar claims,” the company and Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said in a joint press release.
The trial began March 3 in Superior Court in Anchorage. The agreement resulted from ongoing mediation ordered by Judge Mark Rindner before the trial began.
The lawsuit, filed in March 2006, claimed the state and healthcare providers were insufficiently warned about possible side effects relating to weight gain, high blood sugar and diabetes, causing harm to Medicaid recipients and increased costs to the state. The lawsuit asked that Eli Lilly pay the state for those costs as well as civil penalties under the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act.