How to Get Ahead in Drug Marketing

According to internal marketing documents, "Eli Lilly encouraged primary care physicians to use Zyprexa, a powerful drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in patients who did not have either condition." Under U.S. law, companies can't promote "prescription drugs for conditions for which they have not been approved ... although doctors can prescribe drugs to any patient they wish." Yet documents leaked to the New York Times describe "a multiyear promotional campaign" called "Viva Zyprexa," in which "Lilly told its sales representatives to suggest that doctors prescribe Zyprexa to older patients with symptoms of dementia." One document states "dementia should be first message" for primary care doctors, since they "do not treat bipolar" or schizophrenia, but "do treat dementia." Three months after its launch, the Zyprexa campaign "led to 49,000 new prescriptions. ... In 2002, the company changed the name of the primary care campaign to 'Zyprexa Limitless' and began to focus on people with mild dipolar disorder who had previously been diagnosed as depressed -- even though Zyprexa has been approved only for the treatment of mania in bipolar disorder, not depression."