NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - With the state of Montana's recent settlement, only three lawsuits brought by states remain against Eli Lilly & Co. over its prescription antipsychotic Zyprexa.
The two sides reached a $13 million settlement, entered in a federal court in New York Wednesday, that will provide nearly $3 million in attorneys fees for private attorneys. Of 12 states that held out of a 33-state settlement, only Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Minnesota still have pending suits.
The suits allege Lilly marketed Zyprexa for off-label purposes and that the drug caused weight gain-related side effects like diabetes and hypertension.
Montana did not participate in a previous 33-state, $62 million settlement.
The other holdout states that have settled are:
-Connecticut settled for $25.1 million;
-West Virginia settled for more than $22 million ($6.75 went to outside counsel hired by state Attorney General Darrell McGraw);
-Idaho settled its case for $13 million ($2.5 went to outside counsel hired by state Attorney General Lawrence Wasden);
-New Mexico settled its case for $15.5 million ($5.4 million went to outside counsel hired by former state Attorney General Patricia Madrid);
-Mississippi settled its case for $18.5 million ($3.7 million went to outside counsel hired by state Attorney General Jim Hood);
-Arkansas settled its case for $18.5 million ($2.775 million went to outside counsel hired by state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel);
-Utah settled for $24 million (more than $4 million went to outside counsel hired by state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff); and
-South Carolina settled for $45 million (more than $6.5 million went to outside counsel hired by state Attorney General Henry McMaster).
Eli Lilly has also paid $1.4 billion to settle federal civil and criminal claims stemming from alleged off-label marketing. The payment also benefited the Medicaid programs of more than 30 states that collectively received approximately $362 million.
Former Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath filed his state's lawsuit. He hired Miller & Associates of Alexandria, Va., and Rossbach Hart Bechtold of Missoula, Mont.
Steve Bullock is Montana's current attorney general.
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien by e-mail at jobrienwv@gmail.com.
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