Dangers of Zyprexa

[undergroundpanther]

Welcome to zyprexa.pbwiki.com

What is this site about?

For the past few years, there has been some controversy about the drug Zyprexa. What we all know is that Zyprexa is an "atypical" anti-psychotic, approved to treat schizophrenia and acute mania. At about $2.50/pill, it is a big money maker for Eli Lilly, somewhere on the order of $4 Billion a year. By themselves these facts are not controversial.

However, it seems that some internal memos indicate that Eli Lilly knew that the drug raised the risk of diabetes in patients and didn't act appropriately. They may have even misreported clinical trial data about blood-sugar risks to doctors. There is currently a class action lawsuit underway to hold Lilly accountable. There may be other risks that the company knew about but was hiding.

*Incidentally, Lilly's second most profitible drugs treat diabetes.* (Fancy THAT)

Futhermore, Lilly has been training sales reps to instruct general practitioners to prescribe Zyprexa, off label, to elderly patients exhibiting general symptoms of dementia. These drugs are dangerous enough in the hands of specialists - general practitioners should not be trained by salespeople to prescribe such potent and dangerous psychopharmaceuticals. Lilly called this marketing initiative Viva Zyprexa, from which we have taken our satrirical name for this campaign - Zyprexa Kills.

Medicare has born the brunt of Lilly's business practices.
There are articles in the New York Times that cover these memos:

* "Eli Lilly Said to Play Down Risk of Top Pill" by Alex Berenson <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/business/17drug.html>
* "Drug Files Show Maker Promoted Unapproved Use" by Alex Berenson <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/business/18drug.html>
* "Disparity Emerges in Lilly Data on Schizophrenia Drug" by Alex Berenson <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/business/21drug.html>

Go to the WEBSITE, And read and download the documents Lilly doesen't want revealed yourself .


Eli Lilly Zyprexa Documents

Documents from the Eli Lilly Zyprexa MDL-1596 product liability lawsuit were posted on the internet. The documents look like documents Jim Gottstein of PsychRights provided to the New York Times. Here's the page were you'll find a link to a download. There's more about the documents in an article by Evelyn Pringle and on the PsychRights page. These drugs are being pushed on children and used for all kinds of off-label uses. People should know the hazards and how drugs like this are marketed.
http://zyprexa.pbwiki.com/
http://www.joysoup.net/archives/06/12/23/08052.html

[WiseButAngrySara]

1. Thanks for posting this useful info. I'll check it out. ....n/t

[eallen]

2. Yes, but it works.

Consider an elderly patient in the middle stages of Alzheimer's, who without Zyprexa presents the paranoia that brings, and the agitation and constant worry and erratic behavior subsequent to that. If Zyprexa relieves that, and hence means the difference between the patient continuing to live at home, which is much the patient's preference, or having to live in a nursing home, are the risks worth the benefit? Don't be too quick to answer, until you have dealt with this, until you have been called by the police time and again because of a demented family member's behavior, until you have tended to their medical needs, until you have made the decision they need nursing care, and then watched that final decline. When someone is suffering an incurable and terminal disease, and that end is not too far off, quality of life issues loom quite large. Another few months -- maybe a year? -- living in one's own home, versus a few months less at the other and miserable end? I'd make that trade any day, for myself, and I hope those in whom I entrust that decision, if ever someone needs to make it for me, will do the same.

That doesn't mean in all cases the risks are worth it. Not all dementia brings as certain a decline as Alzheimer's. In a middle-aged patient suffering a mental disease that is not deteriorating and terminal, who might have many years yet to live, the risks are sharper because there is more to lose. And drug companies never should conceal the potential risks from a drug.

But just because a drug has serious risks doesn't mean it's not worthwhile, when they help against even more serious diseases.

[Devlzown]

3. I took it for a while and it didn't do much good

that I could tell. I think we're going to see some serious problems with side effects from these newer antipsychotic meds. I took Seroquel for a long time, until I couldn't stand to gain any more weight. I just kept gaining more and more -- there was no plateau -- until I had gained 75 pounds. I've just now started to lose some of it and I've been off the drug for six months. All that weight gain would seem to increase a person's chances of getting diabetes.

[silverojo]

5. I've taken both Zyprexa and Seroquel

I'm bipolar, and was given both. I didn't get any weight gain from Seroquel at all. I became a nasty bitch while on it, however. At higher doses, it dried out my sinuses so badly, that I had to stop taking it (thank God). Seroquel is supposed to help you sleep...man, I was taking those pills like candy, and it does ZILCH to make you sleepy. Trazodone (an antidepressant) is much better for insomnia, without so many of the risks.

Then I was put on Zyprexa. At 5'8", I'd never weighed more than 130 my entire adult life. Well, I went from 130 to 161 lbs. in about 4 months, despite being a light eater (I have to be--I have ulcer/GI problems). My cholesterol levels went screwy for the first time in my life--that's when I decided I wasn't taking it anymore.

Stopping the Zyprexa, I lost 20 lbs. in about 3-4 months...and another 10 lbs. due to a new ulcer (which wasn't related to any medication, just stress). :(

I think the atypicals are bad news, and should only be used as a last resort medication.

[DannyHaszard]

7. Zyprexa zonked

Zyprexa zenith to zonked

On November 28, 2001, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a letter written by Dr. Elizabeth Koller, an FDA medical officer, Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a Duke University psychiatrist warning that according to FDA's MedWatch data, patients taking olanzapine (Zyprexa) were 10 times more likely to become diabetic than the general population.


The black box warning was put up too late mates!

At a glance,zyprexa was promoted 'off label' to uses that weren't FDA approved.This opens up a can of worms for patients like myself who took it for PTSD for which it was ineffective and moreover gave me diabetes.

It was Eli Lilly that manufactured,promoted and exaggerated the efficacy of it's defective zyprexa product.

Blaming my doctors or myself is like blaming the Supermarket vedor for a tainted brand name food product produced by a longtime trusted supplier.

If i bought a can of General Mills Green Giant string beans that had botulism I would blame the Jolly Green Giant wouldn't you?

True,leaked documents don't convey the 'whole picture' but what is compelling is that zyprexa is the 7th some say 5th largest drug sell in the world and Eli Lilly's #1 drug sale by their own admission.
This is for a drug that won't get you "high" cost $2.50 a pill and only indicated for less than 1% of the population.

Hello! Somebody in Lilly land is pushing zyprexa hard-Daniel Haszard

[undergroundpanther]

4. Each to their own

If it works for you great, but it can cause problems for others and if zyprexa has diabetes causing effects wouldn't you want to know that before you took it?
And I find it very disturbing that lilly also is making drugs to treat diabetes already.

I find it very wrong when the same company seems to create a drug to control one kind of a problem(mental illness) and while it controls one, it creates another(diabetes),than the same company sells you a fix to control the second problem (diabetes drugs),and does this to not cure it. For companies such as lilly maintaining a certain level of sickness in people,of one kind or another is better than curing them (from lilly's point of view)because making a cure means that there will be no repeat customers buying the cure after they are cured . So a cure is bad news for corporate pigs,it means no profits..for lilly.

[bananas]

6. k&r - stuck at 4 votes. nt