West Virginia is asking $2 billion under the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act, related to the drug company’s dissemination of an alleged inadequate label on its Zyprexa antipsychotic product. The lawsuit claims that Eli Lilly should be punished for disseminating the inadequate label.

Eli Lilly claims West Virginia is overstepping its bounds and into those of the FDA.

According to the article, the motion also says that penalizing Eli Lilly $5,000 for each Zyprexa prescription distributed from Feb. 28, 2002-Oct. 2007 (which is about 400,000 with the alleged improper labeling) would “lead to a grossly disproportionate punishment” under the U.S. Constitution.
In January, Eli Lilly agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle federal civil and criminal claims. The payment also benefited the Medicaid programs of more than 30 states that collectively received approximately $362 million, according to the article on LegalNewsline.com.

To read the article in its entirety, go to: http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/221408-eli-lilly-w.vas-claim-for-civil-penalties-inappropriate-greedy.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

The government agency issued warnings to Ranbaxy late last year for more than 30 of the pharma giant’s generic drugs, produced at two plants in India. According to Inside Washington Publishers’ October 10, 2008 FDA Week, FDA sued Ranbaxy last summer, stating that the company was likely selling adulterated drugs in the U.S.

But FDA may have dropped the ball–some say, knowingly. FDA Week reports that FDA did not begin blocking Ranbaxy imports until September, even though the agency knew about the problems as early as 2005.

The Department of Justice is investigating claims that Ranbaxy produced HIV medication that contained insufficient active ingredients or was adulterated with other ingredients.