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Eli Lilly to Pay $1.4B, Plead Guilty in Marketing Scheme

Company promoted drug for unapproved uses

By Drew Nelles, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 15, 2009 3:50 PM CST

(Newser) – Eli Lilly will plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor and pay $1.42 billion to settle investigations into its marketing of an anti-schizophrenia drug, Reuters reports. The company promoted Zyprexa to the elderly as an anti-dementia pharmaceutical, though studies questioned its effectiveness in treating Alzheimer’s. “Eli Lilly had an army of 2,000 sales representatives engaged in nothing but off-label marketing,” a US attorney says.

The company will pay $615 million to settle a criminal probe and about $800 million to settle civil investigations, and will plead guilty to advertising the drug for unapproved conditions. In 1999-2001, Eli Lilly marketed Zyprexa to nursing homes and doctors, but schizophrenia is rare in the elderly and the drug can cause weight gain.

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Eli Lilly will plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor and pay over a billion dollars in fines after marketing a drug for unapproved uses. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

Bottles of the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa are seen at an Eli Lilly and Co. facility in Plainfield, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, file)

Eli Lilly sales reps tried to market Zyprexa's weight-gain side effect as positive for elderly people. (AP Photo)

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Specifically, the plea states that Lilly promoted Zyprexa in elderly populations as treatment for dementia, including Alzheimer's dementia, although Zyprexa is not approved for such uses. - Eli Lilly statement

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Eli Lilly to Pay $1.4B, Plead Guilty in Marketing Scheme