Personal Injury Law

Zyprexa Lawsuit to be scaled back per Judge

By Brian F. LaBovick, Esq.

In a widely discussed article on Bloomberg.com, Judge Jack Weinstein, an outspoken U.S. District Judge  from New York, has stated that he does not want to allow patients and insurers who paid for Zyprexa for uses approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to sue as a group. Further he does not feel that the purchasers of the Zyprexa drug are entitled to  claim punitive damages. The case ``ought to be settled,'' said the judge to both Plaintiff and Defense lawyers. "I really think that we're not dealing with very much money.''

In a blog post on the Pharmaceutical Blog Pharmalot, the author mentions that a lawyer for Zyprexa purchasers, is pushing for Judge Weinstein to certify classes of individual Zyprexa users and third-party payers, such as insurers. He believes that Zyprexa maker, Eli Lilly exaggerated the effectiveness of the drug; failed to adequately warn about side effects including weight gain, diabetes and other illnesses; and promoted Zyprexa for off-label use, including for treating elderly dementia patients and children.

Drug manufacturer, Eli Lilly has paid over $1billion to settle over 30,000 claims brought by patients stating they were not given adequate warning about the side effects of Zyprexa.

Judge Weinstein is supposed to issue a ruling sometime soon.. Everyone is waiting to see if justice will be served for the purchasers.  Stay tuned...

Bloggers for the Drug and Device Law Blog have some interesting comments on the subject. It is nice to see a healthy discussion between bloggers and readers...

Full post as published by LaBovick Injury Law Blog on April 16, 2008 (boomark / email).