Drug companies settle diluted drugs lawsuits

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Eli Lilly & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb on Monday settled more than 300 lawsuits accusing them of failing to stop a pharmacist accused of watering down cancer drugs.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The two companies announced the settlement during jury selection in the first of the cases to go to trial. The trial will continue against pharmacist Robert R. Courtney, with opening arguments planned for today.

The suits named Courtney and his pharmacy company, along with the two drug companies. The plaintiffs -- who never said how much money they were seeking -- claimed that the drug companies either knew or should have known that Courtney was watering down chemotherapy drugs.

Attorneys for both sides met for court-ordered mediation Sept. 30. "The mediation forced all parties to take an additional hard look at this case and to carefully consider the emotional impact of protracted litigation on the plaintiffs," said a joint statement from both drug companies and attorneys for the plaintiffs.

Lilly general counsel Rebecca O. Kendall said the decision to settle "was based primarily upon the fact that under Missouri law, even if a jury were to find us just one percent at fault in this matter, we could potentially be required to pay 100 percent of the damages awarded by the jury."

Resolution of the cases still needs approval of all the plaintiffs, said Grant L. Davis, the attorney for ovarian cancer patient Georgia Hayes, whose case is the first to go to trial.

The suit had claimed that the drug companies had "knowledge that (Courtney was) diluting chemotherapy medications." But on Monday, as part of the settlement, Davis said the suit never claimed the drug companies "intentionally ignored" Courtney's dilution scheme. He called the drug makers "good companies."

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb had denied any wrongdoing from the beginning, saying they found out about the scheme around the same time the public did and that they took all the security steps required by law.