Medical News 

Holding Eli Lilly Responsible
Chapter from New Paradigms in Diabetic Care
International Medical Verities Association

January 15, 2007

     If there is any justice in the world history will remember Lilly as the company that killed babies. These were words I wrote three years ago but now they are dated for Zyprexa related adult deaths are being fed into a lethal equation that should end up with someone behind bars. Referencing the killing of babies had to do with deaths centered on the injection of thimerosal, a mercury based preservative used in vaccines.[1] This is still going on, it’s not a thing of the past except in intelligent humane societies that know enough not to poison their infants with mercury based preservatives. America is not one of them and Brazil is perhaps the worst because against all measures of sanity they double the amount of mercury in the vaccines they give to infants.

Thimerosal is one of the most toxic compounds I know of,
 I can't think of anything that I know of is more lethal.
   Dr. Boyd Haley  -  Chairman of the Chemistry Department Kentucky U.

     For more than sixty years the medical community simply trusted the Eli Lilly Company's assertion that thimerosal/merthiolate (fifty percent mercury by weight) had a low potential toxicity if injected into humans. Several generations of public health care officials, doctors and medical educators were duped into injecting the most toxic and lethal chemical known to man into infants. Interesting to note though that the FDA itself in 1982 specifically found that thimerosal was significantly more toxic for living tissue than it was for the bacteria it was supposed to kill. Documents from the archives of Eli Lilly & Company clearly demonstrate that it was known as early as April 1930 that the thimerosal was dangerous yet we still have people swearing to its safety.

The Bush administration has tried to protect
Lilly from liability for harm done with its drugs.[2]
The big question is why would a president of the US do that?[3]

    But today the uproar is not about the babies it’s about adults who have died from Lilly’s blockbuster drug Zyprexa [4], which is used in the treatment of schizophrenia and in the short-term treatment of manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder. Many thousands of people have taken this drug and have developed diabetes, pancreatitis (inflammation of pancreas), ketoacidosis, hyperglycemia, seizures, diabetic coma, stroke, heart attack, amputation of a limb (due to diabetes), severe weight gain, and other medical conditions. If they took Zyprexa* on or before March 2004 they are entitled to compensation because of appropriate warnings of the drugs (no longer hidden) dangers were not given.

There were 20 deaths, including 12 suicides, in the Zyprexa
group. Shockingly, these deaths went unreported in the
 scientific literature. The death cover-ups also took place in
 reporting trial results of several other atypical antipsychotics.

      Dr Stefan Kruszewski, a Harvard trained, certified psychiatrist in adult, adolescent, and geriatric psychiatry finds Lilly's conduct appalling. Zyprexa causes both a severe metabolic syndrome consisting of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular problems." Medical science has discovered how sensitive the insulin receptor sites are to chemical poisoning. Metals such as cadmium, mercury, arsenic, lead, fluoride[ii] and possibly aluminum may play a role in the actual destruction of beta cells through stimulating an auto-immune reaction to them after they have bonded to these cells in the pancreas.

Today, a month's supply of Zyprexa costs about $380, 10-30 times
 more expensive than a month's supply of a conventional antipsychotic.

      Many drugs have toxic effects that can participate in destroying insulin creation and cell receptivity to it. In her 1994 book, Poisonous Prescriptions, Landymore-Lim's says that diabetes may in fact be a major side effect of pharmaceutical drugs. The book provides evidence from studies and hospital records. Diabetes, usually thought to be largely a genetic disorder, may actually have increased so much in the last 50 years due in large part to the proliferation in the use, and over-use, of medicines.

The American Diabetes Association found in 2004 that Zyprexa
was more likely to cause diabetes than other, similar drugs.[5]

       The American Diabetes Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the North American Association for the Study of Obesity issued a consensus statement asking doctors to carefully screen and monitor patients on these medications for signs of rapid weight gain or other problems that could lead to diabetes, obesity and heart disease and refer them to specialists if necessary.[6] Some reports claim a tenfold increase in the risk of metabolic disorders and diabetes with the use of Zyprexa as opposed to other drugs in this same class.  

Documents reveal the illegal marketing schemes
used by Lilly to make Zyprexa its best-seller.

     The New York Times reported in the first week of January of 2007 that Eli Lilly agreed today to pay up to $500 million to settle 18,000 lawsuits
from people who claimed they developed diabetes or other diseases after
taking Zyprexa, Lilly's drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Including earlier settlements over Zyprexa, Lilly has now agreed to pay at
least $1.2 billion to 28,500 people who claim they were injured by the
drug. At least 1,200 suits are still pending, the company said. About 20 million people worldwide have taken Zyprexa since its introduction in 1996.

The internal documents show that in Lilly’s clinical trials, 16 percent
 of people taking Zyprexa gained more than 66 pounds after a year
 on the drug, a far higher figure than the company disclosed to doctors.
                                                                           New York Times[7]

     Eli Lilly paid nearly 700 million dollars in a first settlement to settle existing suits from people who have been harmed after using Zyprexa. This settlement was based on allegations that the Zyprexa label in use before March 2004 did not contain adequate warnings regarding serious potential side effects. In addition, published reports indicate that as far back to the 1950’s, studies tied the use of Zyprexa and similar drugs to increased risk of diabetes, pancreatitis, hyperglycemia and other serious conditions. However, it is alleged that Eli Lilly continued to market Zyprexa without adequate warnings, even in light of this information.

Eli Lilly had been the number one player in the US diabetes market
 since the 1920's. Of all companies they should have been highly
 sensitive about producing and marketing a drug that causes diabetes

     Ted Chabasinski, a human rights activist on the MindFreedom board,  commented that, "I'm an attorney, and I think the reason Lilly is panicking is that these documents literally show a conspiracy to commit murder. People talk about how these documents show that Lilly committed fraud. They do. But more importantly, if someone  deliberately does something that they know will cause the death of another person, they have committed a homicide -- murder. Lying about the effects of Zyprexa has led to the deaths of many people. "Since Lilly does business in almost all states, and since  people died as a result of Lilly's behavior as evidenced by these documents, if there were a courageous prosecutor somewhere who saw  these documents, conceivably Lilly's executives could go to jail." Speaking to the judge in hearings to grant an injunction against distribution of these documents Mr. Chabasinski stated: “The documents are evidence of Lilly’s criminal behavior and willingness to kill people for profit.”

The Lilly documents prove that the company knew that
 Zyprexa was causing diabetes, and kept pushing the drug anyways
                                                                               Evelyn Pringle

     “Lilly entered into an out-of-court settlement in June 2005, and agreed to pay $690 million to cover claims by about 8000 Zyprexa victims. But in order to get paid, the plaintiffs were required to sign a confidentiality clause and basically keep their mouths shut about Zyprexa from then on,” writes Pringle. But the secret has gotten out and the files were posted up on many sites on the internet. Read Evelyn Pringles most recent article here, which will update you to the most recent legal struggles with Lilly.[8]

     Ellen Liversridge wants a criminal investigation of Lilly. She lost her 30-year-old son, Rob, to the adverse effects of the drug. "He gained almost 100 pounds while taking Zyprexa," Ellen says. "Rob lapsed into a coma," she recalls, "and died of profound hyperglycemia four days later on October 5, 2002." "I believe that the people who did this should have a criminal trial," Ellen says. "Enron executives went to prison for wiping out people's life savings," she points out. "Lilly executives should go to prison," she says, "for knowingly being responsible for people's deaths, shattered families; ruined and grieving families."  

Can there ever be justice for a crime as heinous as this?
                                                         Ellen Liversridge

    “The most important story about Eli Lilly is that Lilly’s two current blockbuster psychiatric drugs—Zyprexa and Prozac—are, in scientific terms, of little value. It is also about how Lilly and the rest of Big Pharma have corrupted psychiatry, resulting in the increasing medicalization of unhappiness. This diseasing of our malaise has diverted us from examining the social sources for our unhappiness—and implementing societal solutions,” writes Bruce E. Levine, PhD, a psychologist and author of Commonsense Rebellion: Taking Back Your Life from Drugs, Shrinks, Corporations and a World Gone Crazy. One review of 52 studies involving 12,649 patients concluded, "There is no clear evidence that the atypical antipsychotics are more effective or better tolerated than conventional antipsychotics."[9]

What Eli Lilly had to do was cover up that risk of mania
 and psychosis, cover up that some people were
becoming suicidal because they were getting this nervous
 agitation from Prozac. That's the only way it got approved.

     Eli Lilly is still paying their hard-hitting attorneys to try to frighten citizens into silence," said David Oaks, director of MindFreedom International. "This is reminiscent of the way the Nixon administration tried to keep the Pentagon Papers secret even after the materials were in the  hands of the NY Times." So intense is the heat coming from Lilly’s lawyers that writers like Evelyn Pringle attached the following to the end of her essay. “To avoid having my name added to the dastardly list above and the risk of being subjected to the harassment tactics of Lilly attorneys; I hereby declare for the record, that I did not receive copies of the Lilly documents from Mr. Gottstein.”

It is criminal behavior on a huge scale that is being virtually
totally ignored by the authorities responsible for the public safety.
                                                                                            Larry Bone

    For more than 10 years, the drug companies have consistently downplayed some of the serious risks associated with taking atypical antipsychotic drugs. Psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, a leading proponent of drug therapy for schizophrenics, has written about one of the techniques used to mislead physicians and the public: "Psychiatrists trying to evaluate schizophrenia drugs are not told that the expert who minimizes the side effects of Zyprexa receives a $10,000 retainer from Eli Lilly and also owns substantial company stock." [American Prospect, July 15, 2002]

     Though the government is in bed with Lilly the company is facing Medicaid fraud charges in lawsuits all over the county. Because Zyprexa causes diabetes public health programs have been left to pick up the tab for the medial expenses. States are going after Lilly for fraud and restitution related to the promotion of Zyprexa for off-label use and the concealment of its risks.

In 2002, British and Japanese regulatory agencies warned
 that Zyprexa may be linked to diabetes, but even after the
 FDA issued a similar warning in 2003, Lilly’s Zyprexa train
 was not derailed, as Zyprexa posted a 16 percent gain over 2002.

    Despite all these facts, the media has paid scant attention to the fact that Lilly has had to pay out now more than a billion dollars to victims of its drug Zyprexa. And despite these facts, there hasn't been a single voice of outrage or protest heard in the halls of Congress or on the evening news. The fact that Eli Lilly has made no special effort to warn the public of the potentially disastrous consequences of taking Zyprexa, as it continues to rake in profits from the sale of this drug, tells us all we need to know about the heart of this company.

Worldwide in 2003, Zyprexa grossed $4.28 billion, accounting for
slightly more than one-third of Lilly’s total sales. In the United
 States in 2003, Zyprexa grossed $2.63 billion, 70 percent of
that attributable to government agencies, mostly Medicaid.

     “The drug is of paramount importance to Eli Lilly's bottom line. The company seems to have developed a Zyprexa addiction, from which withdrawal will be difficult. Eli Lilly has also realized indirect profits from Zyprexa sales. It's a cruel irony that while the company is filling its coffers by selling a drug that can cause diabetes, four of its top-selling drugs are treatments for diabetes, with Humulin and Humalog each expected to top $1 billion in annual revenues. Eli Lilly gets the customer coming and going,” writes Leonard Roy Frank.

The review of Medicaid records, reported in the
April 2006, Oregon Health News, found that 41% of
the preschoolers were prescribed psychiatric drugs for ADD

     The rate of children treated with atypicals "is growing dramatically faster than the rate for adults," said Dr. Robert Epstein, chief medical officer for Medco. "Doctors need to be judicious when prescribing antipsychotic drugs to children," Epstein warned. "There is evidence that the risk of diabetes and metabolic disorders from using atypical antipsychotics could be much more severe for pediatric patients than adults," he said.  The use of these drugs," Dr Epstein warned, "can have the pediatric patient trading a behavioral condition for a lifelong metabolic condition that can lead to significant health complications."   

The studies in adults with Zyprexa that Lilly submitted to the FDA demonstrate, as far as I can establish, a higher death rate on
 Zyprexa than on any other anti-psychotic ever recorded.                                   
                               David Healy M.D.[10]

     Where is all this damaging information leading and particularly concerning the children exposed to this drug, often for inappropriate uses?  The huge issue that no one seems to want to pay much attention to is the fact that the inappropriate uses of Zyprexa are skyrocketing in children. The reason all this hidden information has come to light is because they found out Lilly was promoting for use in elderly with dementia, a use of the drug that is most inappropriate. Very little though is brought up anywhere about its use in children. The drug is being used in children who do not have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder; in children with depression, anxiety, behavior disorders, school problems, eating disorders, non psychotic disorders, bedwetting, stuttering, Attention Deficit Disorder, Post traumatic stress disorder, self mutilating behaviors, and even in an attempt to relieve the long term and irreversible effects of the antipsychotics, the very thing this drug itself causes.  And in adults it is being used for similar disorders but also including dementias, Parkinson’s, as an appetite stimulant for malnourished people, and for panic disorders.

     In reality many drugs in use can cause diabetes in children so the more used the higher the risk to the children.

    "The young tend to run into problems quickly," said Henk-Jan Aanstoot, a pediatric diabetes specialist from Rotterdam who is helping to coordinate the International Diabetes Foundation’s childhood diabetes campaign. "Diabetes has become a chronic and common disease among children and often these children die," Francine Kaufman, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California medical school, told a news conference at the World Diabetes Congress in Cape Town. "The childhood obesity epidemic is really driving diabetes in children,"

      No story about the Evils of Eli Lilly can be complete without including the fact that they, for business reasons alone, have removed efficacious insulins from the market, used for years by diabetics to maintain good control, and with fewer adverse incidents than the newer and faster insulins.  In 2005 they removed all natural insulins from the market, leaving thousands of type one diabetics stranded without their lifelines, forced to switch to rDNA insulins or import at tremendous cost and burden to their wellbeing. [11], [12] ,[13]

     It is clear that Eli Lilly executives have taken no responsibility for the harm they've caused. They've made no apology. There's been no contrition. There's only been denial. Eli Lilly CEO Sidney Taurel has said of the first legal settlement: "While we believe the claims are without merit, we took this difficult step because we believe it is in the best interest of the company, the patients who depend on this medication, and their doctors. We wanted to reduce significant uncertainties involved in litigating such complex cases."

     Frank concludes his essay on Lilly with these words. “Because of Enron's fraudulent accounting practices, many people lost their savings. Because of fraudulent drug-information from Eli Lilly, many more people lost their health or their lives. But unlike the Enron scandal, none of the responsible parties at Eli Lilly has been sent to prison or even been charged with a crime. Bringing Eli Lilly executives to justice is not likely to happen anytime soon. Meanwhile, what is to be done? Call it a crime; call it a tragedy; it's surely a public-safety problem of vast proportions, one demanding government intervention. Warning people who take or might take Zyprexa about its grave risks is not a sufficient safeguard. When, in the early 1960s, the drug thalidomide was shown to cause horrible deformities in the newborns of thousands of women, the FDA banned it. Is death a less disastrous drug effect than deformity? How many more people will have to die before the government steps in to protect citizens by prohibiting the sale of Zyprexa?”[14]

     So is Eli Lilly continuing to get away with murder? Or is it perfectly fine to have people die as a consequence of corporate activity and profit? When it comes to Lilly there is no end to the horror and terror. Dr. Bruce Levine writes that “Perhaps the most cinematic of all Lillygates culminated in 1997. The story began in 1989 when Joseph Wesbecker—one month after he began taking Prozac—opened fire with his AK-47 at his former place of employment, killing 8 and wounding 12 before taking his own life. British journalist John Cornwell covered the Louisville, Kentucky trial for the London Sunday Times Magazine, ultimately writing a book about it. Cornwell’s The Power to Harm (1996) is not only about a disgruntled employee becoming violent after taking Prozac, but is also about Eli Lilly’s power to corrupt the judicial system.” 

     “Victims of Joseph Wesbecker sued Eli Lilly, claiming that Prozac had pushed Wesbecker over the edge. The trial took place in 1994, but received scant attention as the public was transfixed by the O.J. Simpson spectacle. While Eli Lilly had been settling many Prozac violence cases behind closed doors (more than 150 Prozac lawsuits had been filed by the end of 1994), it was looking for a showcase trial that it could win. Although a 1991 FDA “blue ribbon panel” investigating the association between Prozac and violence had voted not to require Prozac to have a violence warning label, by 1994 word was getting around that five of the nine FDA panel doctors had ties to Big Pharma—two of them serving as lead investigators for Lilly-funded Prozac studies. Thus, with the FDA panel now known to be tainted, Lilly believed that Wesbecker’s history was such that Prozac would not be seen as the cause of his mayhem.”

     Yet millions of diabetics and the general population at large are supposed to continue to trust the Eli Lilly Company with their lives. The wonderful government of the United States thinks so and continues to condone the poisoning of its citizens with drugs made by corporations even if they have been proven to cause harm. The general population acts like a child who is being abused by its parents. They continue to love and trust even if that abuse becomes outright sexual abuse and rape. There are deep psychological fault lines that run through us that leave us vulnerable to vultures who suck up our trust for their own profit.

     As long as we allow such companies to exist society is filling up its foundation with blood. We can begin to have hope in the future when we see the doors to companies like Lilly closed for good. But many will fill their brains with rationalizations for why we should continue to allow chemical rapists to continue to operate. A chemical rapist company is one who knows their product will kill and do immeasurable harm and continues to do so for great gain. In reality we are talking about something simple, its murder for profit!

     People should question strongly the doctors who are prescribing Zyprexa for any reason. For bipolar disorder, they are not prescribing Zyprexa for short term management of mania. It is prescribed for long term use, and is now even used in combination with antidepressants. So out of touch with reality are Lilly executives that believe it or not they are now conducting clinical trials for using Zyprexa for the prevention of migraine.[15] It is more than stupid to substitute an extremely dangerous drug like Zyprexa for a natural substance like magnesium chloride, which would be extremely effective in both the avoidance of and treatment of Migraines. If Lilly believes that medical poisons are the royal road to disease prevention we should not miss them and certainly not trust them for anything other than continuing to act from a criminal inhumane paradigm that kills babies and people. 

     If everything said above is not enough to bury Lilly executives and their shareholders let it be known that this company is now also conducting clinical trials using Zyprexa on autistic children.[16] Imagine the company that has killed babies and in all likelihood provoked a great part of the autism epidemic by injecting mercury into them but now poisons the kids again with another toxic drug that puts them at risk for diabetes. This is corporate America at its worst. It is also government at its worst because of the close ties between ruling families like the Bush family.

      All of the above reveals an incredible lack of integrity among health officials, medical organizations, the medical media and doctors themselves. We keep hearing that there is no cure for diabetes and no exactly known cause. But this is a lie and a bold one at that. Zyprexa causes diabetes! This needs to be repeated many times. Zyprexa causes diabetes! Many cases of diabetes can be avoided simply by taking this drug off the market. Unfortunately many drugs and chemicals used in foods also cause diabetes but no one wants to talk about that. But this book will and in the end we will see that diabetes is caused in large part by the medical industrial complex and thus is an iatrogenic disease. The FDA though bears the greatest responsibility in the end for not only are drugs a primary cause but many of the chemicals routinely put in foods are also causing this disaster.