Connecticut Attorney General's Office Blasts Lilly's Zeprexa "illegal marketing"

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Again this may be older but I've been seriously busy.. better late than never (smile)


1. Alaska Mental Hospital Director says patients taking Zyprexa developed diabetes
2. The trial is down to 12 jurors. Both alternates now have been excused.

3. Connecticut Attorney General blasts Lilly's Zyprexa "illegal marketing campaign exploited children and senior citizens - causing severe weight gain, diabetes and cardiovascular problems... Eli Lilly adopted a sick marketing mindset: profits over patients, sales over safety."

Anchorage Daily News
Alaska Psychiatric Institute patients on Zyprexa got diabetes, official says
TRIAL: Medical director testifies risks weren't fully known.
By LISA DEMER ldemer@adn.com
March 13th, 2008

Downtown Anchorage, Alaska

Patients taking the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa needlessly developed diabetes because doctors didn't have all the information about risks, the medical director of Alaska's only public mental hospital said in court Wednesday.

The state of Alaska is suing drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. over Zyprexa, contending the company failed to warn of problems including weight gain, high blood sugar and diabetes. The state wants Lilly to pay the costs to Medicaid of treating those health problems.

In opening statements last week in Anchorage Superior Court, a lawyer for Lilly told jurors that the company, not the state, would call Duane Hopson, medical director of Alaska Psychiatric Institute, to testify, and that he would talk about how Zyprexa was still prescribed at the hospital.

But when Hopson, a psychiatrist and president of the Alaska Psychiatric Association, testified Wednesday, it was as the state's witness.

LABEL CHANGES

Zyprexa was approved for treatment of schizophrenia in 1996 and in 2000 for treatment of bipolar mania. The drug's label was changed a number of times over the years and eventually included warnings and recommendations to test patient glucose levels for signs of diabetes.

But only in 2007 -- 11 years after Zyprexa came on the market -- did the label say it was more likely to raise a patient's blood sugar than most similar anti-psychotic drugs.

"Do you believe patients who were placed on Zyprexa developed diabetes who otherwise would not have developed diabetes if you knew then what you've been told now?" asked attorney Scott Allen, a lawyer from Houston, Texas, who is part of the team representing the state.

"I think there are," Hopson answered.

Even before Lilly advised it, API began closely monitoring patients on Zyprexa, he said. The hospital in October 2004 changed its protocol and began to weigh patients and test their blood for glucose and lipids as concerns about Zyprexa mounted, he said. Patients with elevated blood sugar would probably be given another drug, he said.

The court day started with a scare. Just as jurors were filing into the courtroom, a juror in his 60s became light-headed and collapsed, hitting his head on the way down. Someone called 911. A psychiatrist who may testify for the state rushed in to help. Medics came and took Juror No. 13 away on a gurney. He wasn't at either Providence Alaska Medical Center or Alaska Regional Hospital later in the day, so it wasn't possible to get his condition.

Lilly asked for a mistrial. Superior Court Judge Mark Rindner ruled against the company.

The trial resumed, with 12 jurors. Both alternates now have been excused. Testimony began a week ago and is expected to take another seven days or so.

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