The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

As part of a settlement over the illegal promotion of its best-selling drug Zyprexa, drug-maker Eli Lilly has been required to publish payments it made to doctors and others for patient education, healthcare professional education, and advising. The list, which shows payments made to what it calls "faculty" during the first three months of 2009 shows that it paid over half a million dollars to doctors, nurses, and others to perform educational services for the company.

Although Eli Lilly did not admit wrongdoing (other than a misdemeanor guilty plea) as part of the settlement, the Department of Justice forwarded many charges against the company, including that paid consultants were an essential part of the campaign to promote potentially dangerous side effects as benefits. According to DOJ charges, Lilly used a "5 at 5" slogan to promote the drug as a sedative for nursing home patients, making them easier to handle. In some nursing homes, chemical restraints are a common form of nursing home abuse.

In addition, the DOJ charged that Lilly had a campaign to educate primary care physicians to use Zyprexa as an "everyday agent in primary care," even though these physicians are not generally the ones responsible for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Ely Lilly is the first major drug manufacturer to publish fees paid to doctors and others to promote its drugs, but the DOJ has also compelled Pfizer to begin publishing a similar report as part of its $2.3 billion settlement over Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, and other drugs.

Doctors who take payments and the drug companies that give them claim that they do not influence doctors in prescribing drugs, but it seems unlikely that a corporation would invest over half a million dollars over three months on any practice from which it did not expect to reap some return.

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious pharmaceutical injury, the product liability lawyers at the Atlanta, Georgia office of The Cochran Firm stand ready to help. No opponent is too big for The Cochran Firm to oppose in the preservation of your rights. Please contact us for a free consultation today.

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