Edward Fox filed suit against Eli Lilly in Madison County Circuit Court Jan. 24, claiming he developed diabetes and suffered grievous and permanent bodily and mental harm after taking the prescription drug Zyprexa.
According to the complaint, Fox was prescribed Zyprexa in October 2000 to treat a mental condition.
In 2001, Zyprexa was approved for the short-term treatment of acute manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.
He claims during his ingestion of the medicine he was diagnosed with diabetes and diabetes-related illnesses.
Fox claims as a result of ingesting Zyprexa, he now suffers from a chronic, life threatening illness that causes physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life.
According to the complaint, Lilly had knowledge of the numerous adverse events of diabetes, hyperglycemia, glucose intolerance, ketoacidosis, and pancreatitis and other adverse reactions to Zyprexa in foreign countries including Japan and England.
"Zyprexa is a defective and unreasonably dangerous product unfit for human consumption because it causes serious adverse events in persons who ingest it," the complaint states.
According to the complaint, on Sept. 11, 2003, the FDA informed all manufactures of atypical antipsychotic drugs, including Lilly, that due to an increasing prevalence of diabetes-related illnesses associated with this class of drugs, that all labeling must bear a warning.
Fox also claim that despite the FDA's mandate, Lilly waited until March 1, 2004, to send physicians a "Dear Doctor Letter" advising of the new warnings and claim the warning did not appear in the Physicians' Desk Reference until the 2005 edition.
He claims that if he had been adequately warned of the potential life-threatening side effects, he could have chosen other prescription medications and avoided Zyprexa.
Fox claims Lilly endeavored to deceive him and the public by not disclosing the findings of various studies, including its own that revealed problems concerning the dangers of Zyprexa.
He claims Lilly failed to use reasonable care in testing and inspecting Zyprexa, failed to use reasonable care in the manner and method of warning them and failed to implement a reasonably safe design.
Fox is seeking:
Fox is represented by Tor Hoerman and Eric Terry of SimmonsCooper in East Alton and Paul Hanly, Jayne Conroy and Andrea Bierstein of New York.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Andy Matoesian.
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