Some 1,500 Utah adults with insurance coverage provided through Medicaid have developed diabetes because they took Lilly’s Zyprexa, Utah’s Attorney General estimates.

The state, you may recall, filed a lawsuit Thursday against Lilly, charging the drugmaker illegally marketed the antipsychotic drug and failed to warn patients of adverse side effects that include diabetes, severe weight gain and pancreatitis.

About 100 Utah patients have already individually sued Lilly, says assistant Attorney General David Stallard. But untold numbers of other patients “may not have any idea that Zyprexa had anything to do with them developing diabetes,” he adds.

Utah accuses Eli Lilly of pushing doctors to prescribe the drug to Utah Medicaid patients to treat “off-label” conditions like Tourette’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s and anorexia. The FDA only approved Zyprexa for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Doc can prescribe drugs for a variety of illnesses, pharmaceutical companies are prohibited from marketing their drugs for non FDA-approved uses. Because the off-label prescriptions were subsidized by Medicaid, the state is seeking damages from Lilly.

Utah has paid $65 million for the 12,000 Medicaid patients prescribed Zyprexa since 1996. “By dollar volume, Utah Medicaid paid more for Zyprexa than any other drug since 2001,” says Stallard. “They’ve used it much more broadly than it was ever intended. Because of the risks, it shouldn’t have been used that broadly.”

Of the 250,000 prescriptions written for the drug among Utah Medicaid patients, it’s unknown how many of those were for off-label uses. The state is studying the Medicaid database to find out. Other states have reported off-label use at up to 70 percent.

Utah is seeking civil damages and penalties, including $5,000-$10,000 for each prescription that was “not medically necessary,”according to its lawsuit. Seven other states - Alaska, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and West Virginia - have filed similar lawsuits.

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

Here’s the lawsuit filed by the Utah Attorney General.[tags]Eli Lilly, Off-Label Marketing, Utah, Zyprexa[/tags]