Eli Lilly & Co. paid doctors in South Carolina for participating in a speakers’ program in exchange for prescribing the antipsychotic Zyprexa, and used golf bets to get more patients on the drug, according to notes by sales representatives.
During a golf game, one doctor agreed to start new patients on Zyprexa for each time a sales representative parred, or put the ball in a hole within a predetermined number of strokes, according to the notes.
“I got four pars out of nine holes,” Lilly salesman Vince Sullivan said in a February 2002 note. “I said I wanted my four new patients.”
The notes were made public for the first time in a court hearing today in South Carolina in the state’s lawsuit against Lilly over Zyprexa marketing practices. State officials contend Indianapolis-based Lilly marketed the drug for unapproved uses. A trial is set to begin Sept. 14.
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Lilly Paid Doctors to Prescribe Zyprexa
They should be taking the "poison pills" themselves!
ReplyDeleteI can see this taking place -- and them laughing and having a good old time at the golf course.
ReplyDeleteMakes me ill thinking about it.
They'd probably prescribe Zyprexa to their own mothers if it would make them money.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope the September 14 trial is a jury trial.
ReplyDeleteA jury won't let these thugs get away with this.
Please keep us informed of the outcome of the trial.
ReplyDeleteWere the salesmen involved in the golfing incident fired? Were the doctors?
ReplyDeleteThis is like reading a script from a horror movie or a segment of the TWILIGHT ZONE!
ReplyDeleteI am disgusted to my toes.
ReplyDeleteEli Lilly should have to pay an enormous fine for this activity. And the money should go to help people who suffer from reactions to drugs, or perhaps to the poor who can't afford their prescriptions --- or to help support Medicare.