A doctor who leaked confidential information about Eli Lilly’s antipsychotic medication Zyprexa has agreed to terms of a financial settlement with the drugmaker, The New York Times reports.
Under the agreement, Dr. David Egilman will pay Lilly $100,000, which the company said it will donate to charity.
A declaration filed in federal court and signed by Egilman said he knew the information gave an incomplete view of the drug and the company. Egilman had access to the information while working as a consultant.
“I understood from reviewing materials produced in the litigation that there was another side to the Zyprexa story,” Dr. Egilman wrote in the declaration. “I also had seen information regarding the beneficial impact Zyprexa has on patients’ lives.”
Eligman said he supplied documents to a lawyer in Alaska, who sent them to a reporter for The New York Times.
The reporter, Alex Berenson, wrote articles based on the documents, which allegedly showed that Lilly executives had kept information from doctors about Zyprexa’s links to obesity and higher blood sugar. Lilly has denied these claims.
Lilly’s sales, marketing and promotional practices for Zyprexa are under review as part of a civil investigation under state consumer protection laws in 30 states.
The drugmaker has also spent over $1 billion since 2005 to settle more than 30,000 patient product liability lawsuits over the drug.
Zyprexa, Lilly’s top-selling product, brought in $1.2 billion in sales during the second quarter – 26% of the company’s $4.6 billion sales total.
