Articles Posted in Eli Lilly

On Monday, the 2nd Circuit ruled that the plaintiff in the Zyprexa lawsuit knew (or should have known) that Zyprexa potentially caused his diabetes more than two years before he sued Eli Lilly.

Plaintiff was told by his doctor that he had diabetes in the late 1980s or early 1990s. He was prescribed Zyprexa in 1997 and continued taking it until late 2001 when his doctor took him off the drug because of weight gain.

Plaintiff’s lawsuit (filed in 2006) claimed that while taking the drug, his glycemic control significantly worsened and that towards the end, he developed diabetes-related complications.

There have been no lawsuits filed (of which we are aware) involving Effient, a blood-thinner marketed by Eli Lilly. There could be potential lawsuits on the horizon after news that Effient has been linked to higher rates of cancer than its rival, Plavix, according to data provided in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Sometimes plaintiffs’ lawyers are like the man with a hammer. Everything is a nail. So before demanding a recall and calling this the next class action, here are two good reasons why there may be no lawsuits associated with Effient: First, maybe this data is wrong and there is no high rate of cancer with Effient. Second, maybe Eli Lily could not have known of the increased cancer rate even with the exercise of reasonable care and diligence. Still, smart Effient patients should talk to their doctors and smart plaintiffs’ lawyers will keep abreast of future developments.