• September 1996 - Zyprexa receives FDA approval for schizophrenia
• 2000 – Zyprexa receives FDA approval for bipolar disorder
• May 2002 - Britain's Medicines Control Agency warns that several patients taking Eli Lilly's top selling drug Zyprexa (used to treat schizophrenia) had developed diabetes-related complications. In the Medicine Control Agency's Current Problems newsletter, the regulatory body said that Zyprexa "can adversely affect blood glucose." Forty reports of hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar), diabetes mellitus, or exacerbation of diabetes have been received in the UK. Four were associated with ketoacidosis and/or coma including one with a fatal outcome.
• April 2002 - The Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry issues an emergency warning to Eli Lilly Japan KK concerning side effects of Zyprexa following the deaths of two diabetic users of the drug. The Ministry said seven other patients had lost consciousness or become comatose after taking the drugs in the previous 10 months.
• 2002 - Study at Duke University showed a connection between Zyprexa and diabetes. This study documented nearly 300 cases of diabetes in people using Zyprexa.
• 2003 - the FDA requested that Eli Lilly and Company update its product labeling for Zyprexa to include a warning about hyperglycemia and diabetes.
• April 11, 2005 – FDA warns that older patients with dementia given Zyprexa at greater risk of dying prematurely
• April 12, 2005 – Black box warning added to Zyprexa label
• June 2005 – Eli Lilly announces plans to settle Zyprexa claims

If so, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Get a free lawsuit case review today with a qualified Zyprexa lawyer.

Zyprexa (generic: olanzapine) has been linked to diabetes, hyperglycemia, pancreatitis and diabetic ketoacidosis. Zyprexa is manufactured by Eli Lilly & Co. and was approved in 1996 as a schizophrenia medication. In 2000, it was approved for the treatment of bipolar mania. Zyprexa is an atypical antipsychotic medication, a newer class of drugs touted as effectively treating schizophrenia but without the motor side effects of the older antipsychotic medications including Thorazine and Haldol. These older drugs treated the positive (delusions, thought disorder, and hallucinations) and negative (social withdrawal, lack of energy, apathy, and reduced ability to express emotion) symptoms of schizophrenia, but they also had unwanted motor side effects such as akathisia (restlessness and fidgeting), tardive dyskinesia (involuntary, uncontrollable movements), and akinesia (drug-induced Parkinsonism, including tremors). Zyprexa and the other atypical antipsychotics were marketed as being just as effective but as having fewer unwanted side effects. It is now clear that the Zyprexa-diabetes link has injured thousands of people who believed they were taking a safe medication.