Ely Lilly & Co. is a large pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. The history of the company goes back to 1876 when Eli Lilly, a cotton farmer, went into the pharmacy business and opened a new business. Today the company nets nearly $20 billion in sales each year and has over 40,000 employees around the world.

There have been many issues alongside the successes for Eli Lilly over the years. Several of the company’s drugs have been shown to cause serious side effects and complications in patients and the company has been accused of unethical and illegal marketing practices. Some of these issues have spawned lawsuits and billions of dollars in settlement costs.

Eli Lilly – Overview

Eli Lilly founded his company because of his dissatisfaction with the quality of medicines being produced in the late 1800s. His hope was to start a company that manufactured high-quality products and that would research and develop real medicines that actually worked. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Eli Lilly & Co. is now 140 years old and is truly global with research facilities in six countries, and manufacturing plants in thirteen.

The company employs about 41,000 people, 8,000 of which are devoted to research and development. The products made by the company are marketed and sold in more than 120 countries and those sales netted nearly $20 billion in 2015. Some of Eli Lilly’s most popular products include Prozac for treating depression and anxiety, Zyprexa for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Byetta for type 2 diabetes, and Cialis for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Company History

The history of Eli Lilly & Co. goes back all the way to 1876 when Eli Lilly founded the company in Indianapolis. Lilly had been a cotton farmer, a pharmaceutical chemist, and a veteran of the Civil War. As a pharmacist he became frustrated with the poor quality of medicines, many of which simply weren’t effective. He decided to take matters into his own hands and to start a company that would create and manufacture high-quality medicines.

By the 1880s the new company hired a chemist and started what may have been the world’s first real pharmaceutical research division. Eli Lilly developed many innovative products over the years, including the first insulin product in the world. Until this time diabetes was considered fatal and had no real treatment. The company was also the first to mass produce penicillin and other antibiotics, making these life-saving drugs available to more people.

Eli Lilly grew quickly throughout the 20th century, hitting $1 billion in sales for the first time in the 1970s. By then the company employed nearly 23,000 people and worked with several affiliate companies around the world. Despite the many successes, there have also been major problems at Eli Lilly. The company has faced numerous lawsuits over illegal marketing and dangerous products.

Axiron

One of those potentially dangerous products is Eli Lilly’s testosterone replacement therapy product, called Axiron. It is an underarm product, used like deodorant to treat low testosterone in men. Low testosterone can cause symptoms like sexual dysfunction, loss of muscle, and osteoporosis. The problem with products like Axiron is that they are often prescribed for men who may not actually have low testosterone. Levels of this hormone naturally drop off as men age, and treating this natural decline with testosterone products can be harmful.

Some of the issues that have arisen include an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and even death from these adverse events. Eli Lilly and other makers of testosterone products are facing lawsuits over complications and overuse of the drugs. There are currently thousands of suits in place and Eli Lilly may be paying big in settlements when they are ultimately resolved.

Actos

Actos is a drug developed jointly by Eli Lilly and Takeda to treat type 2 diabetes, a condition characterized by chronically high blood sugar levels. The medication has been found to increase the risk of patients developing bladder cancer and congestive heart failure. Lawsuits have been filed against both companies and Takeda has already settled thousands of them to the amount of $2.37 billion.

Byetta

Another type 2 diabetes drug, Byetta was developed by Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals. They created this injectable medication, but now face lawsuits over the potential side effects. These include pancreatic cancer and pancreatitis, both of which are rare but potentially fatal. In 2011, Eli Lilly transferred all responsibility for Byetta to Amylin, which was then bought by Bristol-Myers Squibb. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still investigating reports of the risks posed by this medication.

Tradjenta

Tradjenta is yet another type 2 diabetes medication created by Eli Lilly and partner company Boehringer Ingelheim. As with the other newer diabetes drugs, Tradjenta is linked with serious possible complications, including pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, and lactic acidosis. No lawsuits have yet been filed against the companies based on Tradjenta, but evidence that it causes problems is still coming in and may lead to costly lawsuits.

Prozac

This antidepressant has long been one of the leading drugs prescribed to treat depression and certain anxiety disorders. It was one of the first and most successful antidepressants that has helped countless people over the years. Unfortunately, Prozac has also harmed a lot of people and launched a number of lawsuits against Eli Lilly.

Some of the problems with Prozac include the possibility that it may cause birth defects, a dangerous complication called serotonin syndrome, and the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and actions in young people taking it. Eli Lilly has paid millions in settlements over Prozac although it does not yet admit to any connections with birth defects.

Zyprexa

Zyprexa is an antipsychotic medication used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. It is available alone and in combination with Prozac, a form called Symbyax. Both Zyprexa and Symbyax carry black box warnings required by the FDA. The warnings refer to the increased possibility of suicidal thoughts in young patients, and also of the risk of death in elderly patients with dementia. Both of these drugs have also been linked to the possibility of birth defects.

Eli Lilly has been accused of and found guilty of illegally marketing Zyprexa. The company pleaded guilty to the charges in 2009 and admitted to marketing the drug for off-label uses. The company pushed the drug for pediatric and elderly patients, uses for which it has not been approved because of the risks of suicide and death. Settlements in these cases reached into the billions.

Diethylstilbestrol

Eli Lilly has also been in trouble for a drug it makes called diethylstilbestrol, used to prevent miscarriages in pregnant women. In 2013 the company had to settle a lawsuit from plaintiffs who claimed that the use of the drug by their mother led to them developing breast cancer. They also claimed that Eli Lilly never tested this drug on pregnant women to find out if it was safe. The drug was recalled by the FDA decades ago, because it was found to not be effective at preventing miscarriages. However, the after effects of the medication have stretched into the present and the company has had to pay settlement fees to the women who now have cancer.