Adolescents may experience weight gain and hyperlipidemia with Zyprexa.

The FDA is recommending that healthcare professionals use caution when considering Zyprexa (olanzapine) for treating adolescents 13 to 17 years old for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Physicians, patients and caregivers should understand that adolescents may experience weight gain and hyperlipidemia with Zyprexa. In fact, they have a greater risk of these effects than adults. They are likely to gain more weight than adults and have greater increases in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, prolactin, and hepatic transaminase levels. Adolescents are also more likely to experience sedation than adults. Clinicians should take these effects into account when deciding on antipsychotic medications for adolescents, and they may want to consider trying other drugs first.

If Zyprexa is prescribed for adolescents, it should be part of a comprehensive treatment program that often includes psychological, educational and social components. It is also important to note that Zyprexa has not been approved for patients under the age of 13.

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Additional Information:
FDA MedWatch Safety Alert. Zyprexa (olanzapine): Use in Adolescents. January 29, 2010

Eli Lilly distorted the science and downplayed the health risks of its schizophrenia drug Zyprexa to make more money, EX-FDA Official.

ADN is reporting that a retired medical officer with the federal Food and Drug Administration testified Friday that drug maker Eli Lilly distorted the science and downplayed the health risks of its schizophrenia drug Zyprexa to make more money.
John Gueriguian, who worked 20 years for the FDA and is now a consultant, was on the stand in Anchorage Superior Court all day Friday as an expert witness for the state of Alaska.
The state is suing Eli Lilly and Co. to recover costs to its Medicaid system for what it contends are serious health problems, including weight gain and diabetes, caused by Zyprexa. The state says the company failed to warn of troubles because it counted on Zyprexa to become its next big moneymaker.
Global sales of Zyprexa approached $4.8 billion last year.

At the FDA, Gueriguian worked for the division that oversaw diabetic drugs, not psychiatric medication, so he wasn't directly involved in oversight of Zyprexa. Lawyers working for the state hired him to analyze Lilly documents and e-mails and said it's impossible to get current FDA employees to testify.

If Lilly could show that diabetes was common for this class of drugs, then it would no longer be a special problem for Zyprexa, said a Nov. 28, 2001, company document.

Continue reading at Anchorage Daily News.

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