Oregon will receive $8.9 million of an $800 million national settlement with Eli Lilly after an illegal marketing campaign for the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa.
Oregon Attorney General John Kroger said Thursday it is the single largest Medicaid fraud judgment ever won by the Oregon Department of Justice.
Zyprexa was the first of a newer generation of medications approved to treat severe psychological disorders.
Eli Lilly was accused of promoting it for unapproved uses, including depression, anxiety, irritability, disrupted sleep, nausea and gambling addiction.
Federal law prohibits pharmaceutical companies from promoting drugs for uses that are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The marketing campaign ran from 1999 to 2005. Kroger says Eli Lilly was also providing physicians with cash and gifts forbidden by federal Medicaid rules.
READ – Lilly Settles With Feds, States, Pleads Guilty To Criminal Charge, Furious Seasons
READ – Lilly settles Zyprexa suit for $1.42 billion, AP.com
READ – Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption, New York Review of Books
LISTEN – Oregon To Receive Millions From Eli Lilly Settlement, OPB.org