Lilly And Pfizer Settle Drug Charges

Eli Lilly & Co. will resolve a $1.4 billion charge to settle all federal and state investigations related to the marketing of its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has been investigating whether Lilly marketed the drug to unapproved patients and downplayed the risk of weight gain. Pfizer, meanwhile, has agreed to pay $894 million to settle virtually all of the personal injury, consumer fraud, and state government claims related to its pain drug Bextra. In 2005, Pfizer withdrew the drug, which is in the same class as Merck & Co.'s Vioxx, due to concerns that it raised the risk of heart attack and stroke.