And more states could still sue, H Blair Hahn, an attorney who has been involved in the Zyprexa cases, told the Star. "That litigation is many times larger than what Lilly has dealt with to date," Mr Hahn said. "Their liability could be in billions in those cases."
Mr Gottstein is not alone in his attempts to stop the Zyprexa drugging for profit schemes. Other people who have been injured by the drug, or their family members, have been writing letters to law enforcement officials calling for a criminal investigation of Lilly for concealing the adverse effects of the drug and marketing it for unintended uses.
Richard Bleecker, whose nephew died unexpectedly at age 39 of hyperglycemia, wrote to the attorney general in his state and said in part:
"In your capacity as New Jersey's Attorney General, I ask that you launch an investigation into Eli Lilly's violation of the public interest by its concealment of the risks of Zyprexa."
"I appeal to you," Mr Bleeker wrote, "to investigate Eli Lilly's willingness to see patients suffer and die to enhance its profits."
He informed the AG that New Jersey itself has an interest in this matter "since government programs like Medicare and Medicaid purchase over 70% of the Zyprexa sold in the USA, taxpayers in our State as well as across the nation are footing most of the bill."
"Despite the FDA restrictions on use and warning labels," he told the AG, "the drug continues to be vigorously promoted by Lilly and prescribed for patients in record numbers, including children."
According to a Medicaid fraud lawsuit filed in West Virginia, Lilly illegally promoted the sale of Zyprexa in that state to patients of all ages for the off-label treatment of dementia, anxiety, sleep disruption, mood swings, and attention deficit hyperactivity.
On July 24, 2006, Mississippi filed a lawsuit alleging that Lilly engaged in a calculated marketing plan to defraud the state Medicaid program out of millions of dollars for off-label uses of Zyprexa and "Mississippi is spending millions of dollars on Zyprexa® for patients who are not indicated for the drug; and further, who are being harmed by it."
Even though the drug is not approved for any use with children, Lilly's off-label marketing efforts have led doctors to prescribe Zyprexa to many children including infants and toddlers. On April 25, 2005, the Columbus Dispatch reported a review of Ohio Medicaid records that found 18 newborn to 3 years-old babies had been prescribed antipsychotic drugs in the month of July 2004.
A study directed by Oregon Health & Science University professor David Pollack, found 246 preschool children covered by the Oregon Health Plan receiving antipsychotic or antidepressant drugs, with 41% prescribed for attention deficit disorder.
In February 2006, Florida's public health officials ordered an independent investigation into why the number of children on Medicaid in that state taking antipsychotics has nearly doubled over the past five years from 9,500 to almost 18,000.
This off-label prescribing is killing children. A USA Today report on May 1, 2006, based on an analysis of FDA data, determined that at least 45 children had died with an atypical listed as the "primary suspect," between 2000 and 2004.
Zyprexa is also being fed to elderly patients with grave consequences. In April 2005, the FDA warned that the new antipsychotics had been linked to deaths from heart failure and pneumonia in elderly dementia patients and instructed drug makers to revise their drug labels to include strong warnings about the increased risk of death.
Any Zyprexa death count would have to include suicides because investigative journalist, Robert Whitaker, reports that "researchers in Ireland reported in 2003 that since the introduction of the atypical antipsychotics, the death rate among people with schizophrenia has doubled."
In addition, according to the June 12, 2006, New York Times, more mentally ill patients are dying from diabetes and complications like heart disease. "Uncontrolled diabetes can ruin a person's life as much as uncontrolled schizophrenia," Dr Newcomer, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St Louis, told the Times.
Eli Lilly makes billions on diabetes treatment and also gets $4.2 billion a year in sales of their biggest cash cow Zyprexa which has been scandalized as *causing* diabetes as a major side effect.
Not fair~Daniel Haszard
by
Danny Haszard (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 53 comments)
on Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 10:37:47 AM
1 comments
How would you rate this?
You must be logged in (if signed up) to do ratings.
It's free to signup! And easy. And takes just a minute or two....
Must Read (
Well Said (
News (
Touching (
Funny (
Supported (
Interesting (
Inspiring (
Valuable (
