Federal officials probe Lilly

INDIANAPOLIS -- Eli Lilly and Co., already under federal investigation for the way it promoted an osteoporosis drug, said Thursday it faces a new federal probe of its marketing practices.\nThe Indianapolis-based company said it believes the new probe also likely focuses on the osteoporosis drug Evista, as well as Lilly's current top-seller, the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, and its former blockbuster antidepressant Prozac.\nLilly, one of several drug makers to come under federal scrutiny over marketing issues, said the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has begun a civil investigation.\nRich Manieri, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia, declined comment.\nLilly spokeswoman Terra Fox said the investigation is separate from an ongoing probe of Evista by the Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Litigation. Lilly had previously disclosed it received grand jury subpoenas in July 2002 and July 2003 over Evista promotions to consumers and doctors.\nLilly said the outcome of the investigation could hurt the company's financial position. Zyprexa accounted for $4.3 billion in sales last year, while Prozac sales totaled $645 million -- a sharp decline since the introduction of cheaper generic versions in 2001. Evista sales last year totaled $922 million.\nLilly shares closed down 99 cents to $65.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.\nThe company said in a regulatory filing earlier this month some of its drugs including Zyprexa could come under investigation. Lilly noted several other drug makers had been subpoenaed for records on drugs, including neurological medications. Those companies include Wyeth, Forest Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline and Janssen.\nLilly learned about the new investigation since that filing, Fox said.\nIn September, the U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia sued Medco Health Solutions Inc., alleging the nation's biggest pharmacy benefit-management company violated federal false-claims laws. Pennsylvania's state attorney general sued 13 major drug makers earlier this month -- Lilly was not among them -- and accused them of inflating prices.\nThe previously disclosed investigation of Evista by the U.S. Office of Consumer Litigation began after a competitor complained Lilly was improperly marketing the osteoporosis drug as a breast cancer preventative -- a use for which it did not have Food and Drug Administration approval.\nZyprexa, which now accounts for about a third of Lilly's overall sales, has been prescribed to 12.5 million people since its introduction in 1996 as an alternative to older schizophrenia treatments that tend to have more serious side effects. It is undergoing a patent challenge.\nSince losing its own patent protection, Prozac has ceded nearly 80 percent of its sales to generic versions. The drug dropped to about 5 percent of Lilly's total sales last year.