The Zyprexa Papers: What You Can Do
Who is Jim Gottstein? He is
President and CEO of PsychRights. See http://psychrights.org/
What are the Zyprexia Papers? They are crucial documents in the fight to hold Eli
Lilly accountable for hiding harm caused by Zyprexa and their illegal marketing
of it.
What is the problem? Jim Gottstein, in his effort to hold Eli Lilly
accountable has become embroiled in a legal battle with this pharmaceutical
giant. (2005 Revenues: 14.6 Billion) Jim
Gottstein faces financially ruinous sanctions in his attempt to protect and
inform the public.
What can you do? Below
are background information and possible actions you can take.
Background. Jim obtained the Zyprexa Papers by subpoenaing
Dr. David Egilman as provided in the Protective Order in a case where he
served as an expert witness. An expert in Public Health, Dr. Egilman had
been retained by a plaintiff's law firm in the massive litigation over Zyprexa
causing diabetes and other metabolic disease. When Jim received the
papers, he released them to New York Times reporter Alex Berenson and
others. As reported in the New York Times, the Zyprexa Papers prove Lilly
hid the dangers of Zyprexa, downplayed its risks to doctors, and illegally
marketed it to primary care physicians and the nursing home industry for
non-FDA-approved uses. Not reported by the Times is that Zyprexa is also
being illegally marketed for administration to children, especially those who
have been taken away from their families. As a result of what was
revealed in the Zyprexa Papers, the New York Times has called for a
Congressional Investigation into Lilly’s practices.
On
February 13, 2007, in spite of inviting a Congressional Investigation, Judge
Weinstein erroneously concluded in very harsh terms that Jim had conspired with
Dr. Egilman and Mr. Berenson to violate the Protective Order that had kept them
secret, and ordered the Zyprexa Papers be returned by Jim and certain other
people. This decision has set Jim up for financially ruinous contempt of
court sanctions and potential action against his license to practice law.
If
you want to be a part of the efforts to hold Eli Lilly accountable and support
Jim, the following are things you can do:
Congressional
Investigation Contact Congress,
encouraging them to subpoena the Zyprexa Papers, and investigate Lilly and
other companies’ illegal marketing practices promoting off-label uses of
psychiatric medications, especially on children and the elderly. The
following Committees and their members can be contacted. Members and contact
information for each committee can be found on the listed websites. It
doesn’t hurt to contact all members of these committees, but members of
Congress are most responsive to people from their districts.
· The House Subcommittee
on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce
is currently holding hearings on the FDA, where the topic of Zyprexa has
already been raised. http://energycommerce.house.gov/Subcommittees/ovin.shtml
· The House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform has had some involvement in the issue. http://oversight.house.gov/.
· The Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions has jurisdiction over this
issue. http://help.senate.gov/Health_index.html
· The issue of documents being
kept secret in settlements, including the Zyprexa Papers, has been raised in
the Senate Judiciary Committee. http://judiciary.senate.gov/.
Legal
Defense Fund. ICSPP has
established the Jim Gottstein Legal Defense Fund. Donations are
gratefully accepted. http://icspp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=163&Itemid=70
More information about all of this is
available at http://psychrights.org/States/Alaska/CaseXX.htm,
and is being kept current.