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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEli Lilly and Co. has agreed to pay Utah $24 million to settle a lawsuit claiming the company improperly marketed the antipsychotic
drug Zyprexa, the state’s attorney general told Bloomberg News on Wednesday.
Utah sued Lilly in 2007, seeking
reimbursement for money spent in the state’s Medicaid program on Zyprexa prescriptions. The state
claimed Lilly promoted Zyprexa, approved for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, for unapproved purposes,
Bloomberg said.
The settlement is the latest in a string of legal challenges involving Lilly’s
best-selling drug. Zyprexa, which boasts $4.7 billion in annual sales, has sparked thousands of patient
lawsuits as well as investigations by federal and state governments.
In January, Lilly agreed to pay
$1.42 billion to federal and state governments to resolve a lawsuit over Zyprexa marketing brought by the U.S. Justice Department.
Some states, including Utah, Idaho and South Carolina, did not join that settlement.
Last month, Lilly reached
a tentative settlement with South Carolina, in which terms have yet to be disclosed. Idaho is getting $13 million as part
of its settlement, also reached in October.
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