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Novus Medical
Detox Center Newsletter
Hi Everyone! Over
the last few weeks we have introduced you to some of our staff and talked
to you about our goals and purposes. At this point, we would love to hear
from you. Do you have any questions about Novus? Do you need more
information on how to help someone get to Novus?
 Our
opening is just around the corner. Initially, we will open with only 12
private rooms and we are now accepting reservations. Because no other comparable
facility is available and because of the enormous need for our service, the
rooms will fill quickly. If you know someone that needs our services please
have them contact us immediately or we may not be able to service them when
they want to schedule their detox.
Also, our intention is to be a resource
for you. If you want us to enlighten an individual or family on the long
and short term effects of taking certain drugs, legal or illegal, or just
provide more information that you can use to enlighten people please call
or email us.
 In
our surveys, we found that many people are not able to
“disappear” for the time needed to detox. They have to continue
to send and receive email and make private telephone calls. With a phone
that only rings in the patient’s room, voice mail and call
forwarding, high speed internet access, a business center and
confidentiality assured, our patients can conduct business as usual. The
only people who will know that the patient is at Novus will be people told
by the patient.
 Lilly to Pay Up to $500 Million to Settle Claims
By ALEX BERENSON Published: January 4,
2007 The New York Times
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 settlement covers
cases filed in state and federal courts by 14 plaintiffs’ law firms
or groups of firms, Lilly said. The federal suits have been overseen by a
judge in Brooklyn, Jack B. Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York.
The settlement will not
affect civil or criminal investigations pending over Zyprexa from state
attorneys general and federal prosecutors, which are continuing.
Both Lilly and lawyers
for plaintiffs said they were pleased with the agreement. With sales of
$4.2 billion last year, Zyprexa is Lilly’s largest-selling drug and a
major contributor to the company’s profits. Lilly shares were little
changed after the settlement announcement.
Zyprexa is the brand
name for olanzapine, a potent chemical that binds to receptors in the brain
to reduce psychotic hallucinations and delusions. Clinical trials show
Zyprexa also causes severe weight gain and increases in cholesterol and
blood sugar in many patients.
Documents provided to
The New York Times last month by a lawyer who represents mentally ill
patients show that Lilly played down the risks of Zyprexa to doctors as the
drug’s sales soared after its introduction in 1996. The internal
documents show that Lilly’s own clinical trials found that 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.
The documents also show
that Lilly marketed the drug as appropriate for patients who do not meet
accepted diagnoses of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, Zyprexa’s
only approved uses. By law, drugmakers may only promote their drugs for
diseases in which the Food and Drug Administration has found the medicines
to be safe and effective, although doctors may prescribe drugs in any way
they see fit.
In response to questions
about the information in the documents, Lilly has denied any wrongdoing and
said it provided all relevant information to doctors and the F.D.A. Lilly
has also said it did not promote Zyprexa for conditions other than
schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
In 2004, a panel of the
American Diabetes Association found that Zyprexa caused diabetes more than
other widely used antipsychotic drugs in part because it tends to cause
much more weight gain. But the F.D.A. has never made a similar finding.
Instead, the F.D.A. added a warning in 2003 to the label of Zyprexa and
other new antipsychotic drugs about their tendency to cause high blood
sugar.
The settlement follows
an additional $700 million agreement in 2005 covering 8,000 patients, as
well as 2,500 individual settlements whose total value has not been
disclosed, Lilly said. The 2005 settlement valued each claim at nearly
$90,000 per plaintiff, while today’s agreement values claims at more
than $27,000 per plaintiff.
The lower value for the
new claims comes in part because of the F.D.A. label change, which has
allowed Lilly to contend that it adequately warned doctors of
Zyprexa’s risks after 2003. The label change may also help to protect
Lilly from other lawsuits going forward, drug industry analysts and lawyers
say.
In its statement, Lilly
said the settlement did not change its views that Zyprexa is a safe and
effective treatment for mental illness. "We wanted to reduce
significant uncertainties involved in litigating such complex cases,"
Sidney Taurel, Lilly’s chief executive, said in the statement.
Richard Meadow, one of the lead lawyers for plaintiffs, said the deal was
fair to both sides. "Prolonging this litigation further is in no
one’s best interest," he said.
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