Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11412
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Murphy T.
Lilly, Doctor Reach Agreement Over Leak
Associated Press 2007 Sep 7
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070907/ny_times_zyprexa.html?.v=3
Full text:
Lilly, Doctor Reach Agreement Over Zyprexa Information Leak
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A doctor who leaked confidential information about Eli Lilly and Co.‘s top-selling drug Zyprexa to The New York Times regrets his actions and will pay Lilly $100,000.
His lawyer, though, cautioned Friday against viewing the settlement as an apology.
Dr. David Egilman said in a signed declaration that documents he released gave an incomplete view of the anti-psychotic drug and the company. He had access to Zyprexa information while working as a legal consultant.
“I understood from reviewing materials produced in the litigation that there was another side to the Zyprexa story,” Egilman wrote in the statement. “I also had seen information regarding the beneficial impact Zyprexa has on patients’ lives.”
The declaration was filed Friday in federal court. Egilman’s attorney, Alexander Reinert, said the doctor was not saying that the other story on Zyprexa “is actually factual.
“He’s acknowledging that there is another story,” he said.
Lilly will donate Egilman’s payment to a charity.
Lilly had planned to seek criminal and civil sanctions against Egilman over the disclosure. The material had been sealed by U.S. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York.
A Times reporter wrote a number of articles starting late last year saying Indianapolis-based Lilly downplayed the drug’s risks and marketed it for unapproved uses.
Lilly has denied the claims and said the leaked documents unfairly portrayed the company.
Reinert said Egilman does not admit to violating the law and that the phrase “I apologize” never appears in his declaration.
“He settled it because parties decided the risks going forward outweigh the benefits of settling,” Reinert said.
The declaration does not end Lilly’s legal headaches with Zyprexa.
Attorneys general from 30 states have subpoenaed documents detailing Lilly’s sales, marketing and promotional practices for Zyprexa as part of a civil investigation under state consumer protection laws.
Lilly also faces lawsuits from several states and some third-party payers alleging that the company improperly promoted the drug and inadequately warned about possible side effects. Those cases are still pending.
The company has spent more than $1 billion since 2005 to settle more than 30,000 patient product liability lawsuits over the drug. About 350 are pending.
Zyprexa is by far Lilly’s best-selling drug. It rang up $1.2 billion in sales during this year’s second quarter, or 26 percent of the company’s $4.6 billion total.
Eli Lilly shares fell $1.28 to $56.17 on Friday. The stock rose 43 cents in after-hours trading.
