Posted on 12/02/2002 11:11:09 AM PST by Nov3
Lilly settled the case last week for an undisclosed amount. The lawsuit, which sought $4.84 million in tangible damages, had been scheduled to go to trial Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.
The complaint was filed two years ago by Diane Cassidy and her husband Melvin. In July 2000, the Monroeville, Pa., couple picketed outside Lilly's Indianapolis headquarters, handing out fliers proclaiming, "Lilly, how many people are maimed or dead on your drug today?"
The overdose caused intracranial bleeding, which left Cassidy paralyzed on one side and mentally impaired, according to the lawsuit.
The Cassidys were represented by Houston trial lawyer Andy Vickery, who has negotiated settlements of several Prozac cases against Lilly.
Lilly said in a statement that it "made a business decision to settle ... for factors completely unrelated to the safety and efficacy of Prozac," The Indianapolis Star reported in a story Saturday. "Such factors included the extensive time demands that litigation would have placed upon our scientists, keeping them away from their primary objective of discovering lifesaving medicines."
Also last week, a new Prozac lawsuit was filed against Lilly in U.S. District Court in Georgia.
It raises a new claim that has not been raised in previous lawsuits over Prozac, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1987 and went on to become Lilly's top-selling drug.
The Georgia wrongful-death lawsuit alleges Lilly failed to publicize research showing some people are "poor metabolizers of Prozac," and a test can reveal if a patient might be affected.
That lawsuit, in which Vickery is assisting the plaintiff, was brought by William H. Shell, the widower of LaVerne M. Shell. She shot herself to death at age 63 in November 2000, 11 days after starting on a prescription of Prozac to treat migraine headaches.
The lawsuit says that a human enzyme dubbed CYP2D6 normally metabolizes or breaks down Prozac and similar drugs in the body, but fails to do so in a minority of people. In their bodies, the active ingredient in Prozac builds up to high levels, putting them at risk of violence and suicide, the lawsuit says.
Lilly spokesman Blair Austin said that company officials had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on the new allegation.
Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
I don't recall the early marketing approaches they took. I never was given information from my doctor that this would be a good pill to take than for anything other then depression. I don't deny that didn't market it as such, but just really don't know whether they did.
As far as reaping what they sow, I can understand to an extent, but so many people have been heped by this drug, and some that I know personally. Don't forget that what you advocate will impact them as well!
I can only imagine what he has been going through. Young kids are not politically correct.
Someone very close to me went through something very similar with prosac. Before it was all over they had her prosac stacked with tegretol and were going to start lithium. Luckily she walked away from this and is more stable than me now.
Read the reports on the Lilly testimony from the Webecker trial. It's all there. Glenmullen's book, "Prozac Backlash," has a good description of the testimony. It's in chapter 4, appropriately titled "Bones Rattling Like Tuning Forks."
Also, while most reporters were at the OJ trial, John Cornwell covered the Webecker trial. He wrote a book about it, "The Power to Harm: Mind, Medicine and Murder on Trial." Lilly's "massaging" of the clinical trial data is covered there as well.
Haven't seen the TV ad yet. Haven't been watching much TV lately. I'll try to catch it.
Is your son one of the 1%? Most likely...
I don't advocate taking this drug off of the market. It will probably be sued off the market now because of the way they handled it.
They should have been honest about the side effects and given better prescribing info. Also every doctor in the universe shouldn't be prescribing it. They simply are not qualified to diagnose all the side effects and closely follow up the patients on this drug. A GP should not be prescribing this drug and saying I will see you in 2 months. A lot can happen in two months.
It seems people deficient in CYP2D6 can't handle Prozac.
More like one of the 4 to 10 percent according to recent Non Eli Lilly paid for studies.
I agree somewhat. My GP did the initial prescribing. However, I was in her office almost weekly for awhile. And unlike some other patients, I read all small print included in the packaging.
Many drugs are used for things not originally intended by the FDA's approval process. Some are successful, others not. Did Lilly really market this for things such as weight loss?
Unfortunately, my son has also been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. He's never had good social skills and always has somewhat of a rough time. But this happened at the very end of the last school year, and he didn't go back until Fall. The teacher hustled him out of the room and spoke to the kids. It really hasn't been an issue for them.
My son feels embarrassed and humiliated, and he is convinced that they all think he's crazy. But this isn't something they bother him about. The things we deal with seem more rountine than that. (Today was someone spilling a bottle of white-out in his backpack, ruining it and a library book.)
A friend of mine's daughter has that. You have a heavy burden, Dianna.
And if that's the case, I can shrug my shoulders and say we took a gamble and lost. There is a risk to the meds, but there are risks to not taking them too.
But if they have suppressed evidence that that 1% is really something like 10%? I'll be so livid, I won't know what to do with myself. I'm just watching the info coming out and will wait and see.
If eating is from anxiety then it can lower weight.
My brother in law has aspergers. He has a very hard time talking to anyone as he cannot talk about anything but movies. He knows everything about movies.
My wife has done a great deal of research on it. There is a body of evidence that says diet (too much sugar and carbs and too little of the right fats, omega 3s) can make a difference. Unfortunately he only eats a few foods. He seems to be doing much better lately and is attempting to interact.
He was not helped at all while he was younger. He has attempted to make these changes as an adult. Had someone worked with him from a young age I think he would have been much happier. His parents were in denial.
We have only the woman's word, reported through media, that this is why she was prescibed this drug.
This drug has done a lot of good. I guess we'll notice if there's a sudden lack of it...
It just went off patent so it will stay on the market. The trial lawyers, on the other hand, won't fail to get their cut. Are they suing any patients who failed to inform themselves sufficiently to make better decisions?
Serotonin boosters are by nature anorexic. Fenfluramine (banned) and Prozac both act this way. Fenfluramine was banned because it was shown to be neurotoxic and because it was shown by the Mayo clinic in a study to cause heart valve problems.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.