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Grassley requests Zypreza marketing docs from Lilly

Pharma Compliance Alert, April 11, 2007

Eli Lilly has only two weeks to deliver Zyprexa marketing documents to the Senate Finance Committee. Ranking Committee member Senator Chuck Grassley (D-IA) requested the information in a letter last week to Lilly Chairman and CEO Sidney Taurel.

The letter requested "all documents and materials," including e-mails, letters, reports, and memos, that Lilly had produced during other product liability litigation be delivered by April 25. Grassley said he is "aware of several pending product liability actions regarding Zyprexa" and that "questions have been raised regarding safety information and marketing practices."

In the letter's opening paragraph, Grassley cited his "obligation to ensure that the public's money is properly spent to provide safe and effective treatments" to Medicare and Medicaid recipients.

In other Zyprexa news, Lilly shareholders filed a suit against the company last month in federal court. The suit alleges that fraudulent conduct, including denying safety risks and off-label marketing, led to a $30 billion drop in Lilly's market value, reports the Associated Press. The shareholders suit cites New York Times articles about the alleged conduct.

Zyprexa has been a headache for Lilly over the past few months. Last month, Montana became the seventh state to sue Eli Lilly over its alleged off-label marketing of the drug. In addition, the state's Attorney General Mike McGrath also alleged that Lilly gave kickbacks to doctors. In early March, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, requested Zyprexa marketing information.

Go to Grassley's Web site to read the letter to Sidney Taurel.

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