Implications

Implications, Money, NeuroPsyche

SPECIAL REPORT: Marketing a Phony “Miracle” Drug – (Rolling Stone)

Eli Lilly insists that it has not marketed Zyprexa off-label and that it has
accurately represented the drug’s side effects. But some medical researchers who
have studied the atypical antipsychotics say that, in the final tally, the
drugs, which have already been linked to some deaths, may eventually be
responsible for tens of thousands of cases of diabetes and other potentially
fatal diseases. And despite their early promise for treating schizophrenia, the
drugs have not even performed any better than the crude and imprecise earlier
medications that preceded them. …

Implications, Money, NeuroPsyche

Lilly agrees to settle criminal investigation over the psych drug Zyprexa.

As part of the settlement
with the Justice Department, Lilly agreed to plead guilty to one
misdemeanor violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act related to the
off-label promotion of Zyprexa between 1999 and 2001. The guilty plea
says Lilly promoted the drug in elderly people as treatment for
dementia, including Alzheimer’s, although the drug isn’t approved for
such use.

Implications, NeuroPsyche, Technology

Study Finds Drug Risks With Newer Antipsychotics (New York Times)

They found 478 sudden cardiac deaths among those taking
the drugs, about twice the rate of the control group. The risk —
equivalent to 3 deaths for every 1,000 patients taking the drugs for a
year — was about the same whether people took the newer or older
medications. The higher the dose of the drug, the study found, the
higher the risk of sudden death. …

Implications, Money

Lilly to pay $1.4B in Zyprexa settlement

Lilly had been accused of persuading doctors to prescribe Zyprexa to
children and the elderly, despite the fact that the drug wasn’t
FDA-approved for those patient groups–and the knowledge that it was
particularly risky for them to take. As you know, Zyprexa has been
shown to cause excessive weight gain and to boost the risk of death in
elderly patients with dementia. …