Lilly Settles Zyprexa Claims With 33 States For Cheap

News is just out via the New York Times that Lilly and a combine of 33 states--which were pondering suing the pharma giant over off-label marketing of Zyprexa--have settled those claims for $62 million. It's not clear to me if this settlement covers potential claims by the states involving Lilly's alleged hiding of injuries caused by the drug such as diabetes or whether it only covers off-label marketing. If it does cover both, then Lilly got off cheap.

The Times' Alex Berenson reports that:

"The agreement may also be a sign that a much larger deal is near in a separate but related civil and criminal investigation led by federal prosecutors in Philadelphia. In that case, Lilly is expected to pay more than $1 billion in fines and restitution to states and the federal government and may also plead guilty to a misdemeanor criminal charge related to off-label marketing of Zyprexa."

We shall see. There are still outstanding lawsuits by about 10 other states. Alaska settled its claims with Lilly for $15 million earlier this year. Lilly has settled about $1.3 billion worth of class action claims by individuals since 2005 and is facing trial in large case in New York federal court brought by various unions, pension funds and insurance companies. It'll be interesting to see if Lilly settles or goes to trial.

More when I know about it.