Judge Excludes Pharmacology Expert In Eli Lilly Case

U.S. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein in Brooklyn, N.Y., will exclude pharmacology expert Dr. Stephen Hamburger from testifying in the case against Eli Lilly & Co. and the drug Zyprexa.  Plaintiffs allege Lilly urged doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for uses not approved by the FDA. Delawareonline reports:

The doctor has offered testimony in some 20 individual Zyprexa cases, seven of which now have pending summary judgment motions before Weinstein, the judge said in a decision issued this week. Hamburger was "shockingly careless about the facts in the cases he proposes to opine about," Weinstein said. The doctor gave conflicting answers to questions about the "claimed causal link between Zyprexa intake and medical injury," he said. "Faced under oath with consistent extensive factual discrepancies in his analysis, he merely shrugged them off or flippantly shifted to new theories," Weinstein said. "He repeatedly and impermissibly stretched the truth to support findings of causality." The Indianapolis-based drugmaker had moved to prevent Hamburger from testifying as an expert witness in the cases. Zyprexa is approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The plaintiffs claim Lilly urged doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.