The Zyprexa Chronicles: Alaska Jurors Hear Of 2002 Japanese Label Changes

I've paid attention before on this site to the fact of Japanese label changes concerning hyperglycemia and diabetes that the Japanese government imposed on Zyprexa in early 2002. On Thursday, jurors in the Alaska v. Lilly case heard from plaintiff's attorneys about how Zyprexa sales tanked by 75 percent in Japan after the warning. It hurt the company elsewhere:

"'Market research shows we have also lost quite a bit of credibility with prescribers and opinion leaders, basically because they felt left in the dark with what they perceived as the late sharing of safety information,' two Lilly executives wrote that year in a memo to John Lechleiter, the company's chief operating officer and president."

That's the same Lechleiter who apparently wanted to press Zyprexa on kids in 2003, according to a report in the New York Times on Friday.

"Lilly didn't agree with the health ministry's ruling, and said so, arguing against the warning on the drug label, Lechleiter said in his video deposition, played in the courtroom. That might explain why one of the executives thought the company 'lost substantial ground and trust' with the government in Japan, he said."

Lilly has argued in its own documents that the safety warning in Japan had no relevance to the safety of the drug in the US.

The Alaska Daily News is putting selected Zyprexa documents on its website. You can find them on a small sidebar on the story link above.

NOTE: I know this trial is stirring up some strong emotions in some readers because of what happened to friends or family who took Zyprexa. I am going to continue to put out updates on this trial and I just hope readers will be restrained in their comments.