Eli Lilly and Company has entered into a settlement agreement with Dr David Egilman, a former plaintiffs' expert witness in the Zyprexa product liability lawsuits, in which Dr Egilman admitted violating a protective order in the Zyprexa litigation and illegally passing confidential Lilly documents to an Alaska attorney in a failed attempt to evade the protective order. Dr Egilman acknowledged that his selective leaks of these documents, excerpts of which were published and discussed in a series of articles in The New York Times, presented an incomplete picture of Lilly's activities.
"Dr. Egilman has now confirmed in writing what Lilly has been saying since the Times published these documents: he was selective in which documents he released and they unfairly portrayed Lilly's activities in its interactions with doctors, patients and the Food and Drug Administration," said Michael J. Harrington, deputy general counsel, Eli Lilly and Company. "We hope that putting this issue behind us will help to ensure vulnerable patients will not be deterred from treatment based on misleading and inaccurate information. Our intent all along has been simply to have a fair legal process," he added.
Lilly, in return, agreed to forego seeking criminal and civil penalties against Dr Egilman for his illegal activities. The agreement applies only to Dr Egilman. Under it, Dr Egilman agreed to pay Lilly $100,000.00, which will be donated by Lilly to a charity of its choosing, specifically the International Centre for Clubhouse Development. The International Centre for Clubhouse Development is a global resource offering communities around the world a more holistic, inspiring and cost-effective solution for issues facing people living with mental illness.
On February 13, 2007, the Honourable Jack B. Weinstein, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, issued a permanent injunction against Dr Egilman and Gottstein, who, according to the judge, conspired with Berenson of the Times to leak selective confidential Lilly documents to the newspaper.
The Judge's order recognized that the "selective out-of-context" disclosure "may lead to confusion in the patient community and undeserved reputational harm" to Lilly. In addition, it reaffirmed the validity of the confidentiality order, as well as Lilly's designation of its documents as confidential.
Zyprexa is indicated in the United States for the short- and long-term treatment of schizophrenia, acute mixed and manic episodes of bipolar I disorder, and maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. Since Zyprexa was introduced in 1996, it has been prescribed to approximately 22 million people worldwide. Zyprexa is not approved for the treatment of patients with dementia- related psychosis. Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death compared with those patients taking a placebo.