Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14044

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

Goldstein J.
Lilly Trained Reps to ‘Neutralize’ Zyprexa-Diabetes Link
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog 2008 Jul 31
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/07/31/lilly-trained-reps-to-neutralize-zyprexa-diabetes-link/

Full text:

“We will NOT proactively address the diabetes concern,” reps selling Eli Lilly’s antipsychotic drug Zyprexa were advised in 2002. “The competition wins if we are distracted into talking about diabetes.”

That company dictum comes from court documents unsealed in Alaska, Bloomberg reports this morning. The state sued Lilly earlier this year before settling for $15 million. Lilly didn’t admit wrongdoing in the case.

Weight gain is a common side effect of Zyprexa, and doctors saw a “logical link between weight gain and diabetes,” an instruction sheet advised the sales force in 2002.

“We believe it is essential to weaken this link to neutralize the diabetes/hyperglycemia issue,” the sales document said, according to Bloomberg. “Neutralizing any concern from our customers will be essential to the future growth of Zyprexa in the marketplace.”

Lilly doesn’t engage in improper marketing and hasn’t downplayed the risks of Zyprexa, spokeswoman Tarra Ryker told Bloomberg in an e-mailed statement. The documents cited “are a tiny fraction of the more than 20 million pages” provided by Lilly in the lawsuit. “They do not accurately portray our company strategy or our overall conduct,” she wrote.

Last fall, Lilly beefed up the warnings on Zyprexa’s label, noting that the drug may be more likely to drive up blood sugar levels than other, similar medicines.