Florida will receive $3.6-million as part of a $62-million settlement with Eli Lilly & Co. to resolve an investigation into how it marketed its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa.
The settlement will be split among 32 states.
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said Florida's share will be used to fund future enforcement efforts and to reimburse his office for its fees and costs.
"This landmark settlement sends the message that pharmaceutical companies will be held responsible for their actions, including any inappropriate marketing practices which may promote off-label uses that have not been approved," McCollum said in a statement Tuesday.
The company also agreed to provide the states' attorneys general with information about the compensation it paid to health care professionals who received more than $100 per year for promotional speaking or consulting regarding Zyprexa, and agreed to other promotional terms.
A group of insurance companies, unions and others are currently suing the Indianapolis-based drugmaker for billions of dollars, saying Lilly charged too much for Zyprexa and marketed the drug for off-label uses, or ailments the drug has not been FDA-approved to treat. A federal judge in July recommended that Lilly settle that case.
Other states involved in Tuesday's settlement are Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
The company is also being sued by 11 other states not included in Tuesday's settlement: Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
Lilly paid $15-million to settle a lawsuit with the state of Alaska in March, and since 2005, the company says it has settled approximately 31,000 individual product liability suits related to the drug's side effects. Those side effects include neuroleptic malignant syndrome and hyperglycemia.
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