Eli Lilly & Co. has agreed to pay $62 million to some states, to settle claims it improperly marketed Zyprexa, its top-selling drug, to patients who did not have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, its only approved uses.
Attorneys general from several states had accused Lilly of marketing Zyprexa for off-label uses and inadequately disclosing the drug’s side effects to health-care providers. Doctors are free to prescribe drugs for uses not approved by the FDA, but drug companies cannot market them for those situations.
But Lilly has settled more than 31,000 product liability claims against the drug since 2005, paying out more than $1.1 billion. The drugmaker still faces separate litigation with 11 other states, generally involving consumer protection issues or Medicaid reimbursement.
