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Louisiana gets $20M in Lilly drug settlement

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Louisiana will receive $20 million in a settlement with pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly and Co. over its marketing of the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa, the state attorney general said Wednesday.

Louisiana was one of 13 states that filed individual suits in state courts over allegations that Indianapolis-based Lilly pushed the drug for uses that had not been approved by federal regulators.

Lilly spokeswoman Marni Lemons said Louisiana is the 11th state to settle. Other states that have settled are Alaska, West Virginia, Connecticut, Utah, Idaho, South Carolina, New Mexico, Mississippi, Arkansas and Montana. Suits filed by Minnesota and Pennsylvania are pending, Lemons said.

Lilly paid a $1.4 billion settlement to the federal government in January 2009 after admitting it had promoted Zyprexa for treatment of dementia in the elderly.

Zyprexa has been approved to treat psychological problems such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders in adults only

Louisiana's suit alleged that Lilly marketed the drug for use with children and in other "off-label" uses as treating depression, attention deficit disorder, sleeping problems, anger and stabilizing moods.

"This settlement sends a clear message to pharmaceutical companies that improper and illegal marketing of drugs will not be tolerated in Louisiana," Attorney General James "Buddy" Caldwell said in a statement.

Caldwell said about $17 million will go into the state's general fund, while about $3 million will go toward reimbursement of the state's Medicaid fund, which paid to treat health problems of people taking the drug for unapproved purposes.

Lilly will pay an undisclosed amount of attorney fees to private attorneys hired by the state to handle the case, Caldwell said. None of the state's recovery is being used to pay attorneys, he said.

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  • Zyprexa saga continues






    Eli Lilly has made 40 billion on 10 dollar a pill Zyprexa and it was way oversold and caused diabetes and in some cases sudden death. Zyprexa was pushed by Lilly Drug Reps.

    They called it the "Five at Five" (5 mg at 5 pm to keep nursing home patients subdued and sleepy) and "VIVA ZYPREXA" (Zyprexa for everybody) campaigns to off label market Eli Lilly Zyprexa as a fix for unapproved usage.I am a living example of Zyprexa gone/done wrong was given it 1996-2000 off-label for PTSD got sudden high blood sugar A1C 14.7 in January 2000.The stuff was worthless for my condition PTSD and cost me thousands in co-pays gave me diabetes.

    --

    Daniel Haszard

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  1. Doug Henning!

  2. These guy were thugs — they grew up in freaking Haughville! Smh, sigh. If the mayor needs/wants "quality" Black Hoosiers who are NOT corrupt, give me a call — I know plenty. Land bank info here - http://www.kubepharm.com/indylandbank/IndyLandBank.html

  3. Magician and illusionist!

  4. The basic idea of nice apartments with parking and retail is a good one, but this design seems overwhelmingly big/tall for Broad Ripple. The size could be disguised a bit with lots of big trees/landscaping, but the complex is too massive to blend in easily. That section of canal between College and Westfield will also need to be upgraded on both sides. Nice apartments facing onto a nice promenade with shade trees/plantings could bring together the canal towpath/Monon recreation, the outdoor seating at existing restaurants, and this project into something that upgrades the whole area. A plan for the whole stretch makes more sense than facing nice new housing onto what looks like a ditch. Is there a plan? Does the public have input? Who pays? The apartment idea seems to be reasonable, but Whole Foods is not a good idea for appropriate retail. Besides the store being physically too big, there are already Fresh Market at 54xCollege and Whole Foods in Nora for fancy groceries. Good Earth and Kroger are within walking distance of the Shell site. There are at least 7 grocery stores within a safe bike ride. Whole Foods would add nothing but traffic congestion. This design is on the right track, but there needs to be more work done to ensure that it blends in with and enhances the existing community. A project that large will set a tone for that whole part of town. It could be a real asset, but only if done right.

  5. I did not move to Zionsville to live in Carmel. This and the subsequent developments to follow will ensure a vanilla uniformity of strip malls and apartment buildings as we seek to bring our town down to the least common denominator. We were warned before recent elections that pro-development council members would make sure their friends (landowners and developers) would be able to make their millions off of the exploitation of Zionsville. Why in God's name would we sell out the best preserved small town in the State of Indiana?

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