Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co has announced a payment of $ 62 million dollars to cover the lawsuits and investigations into the marketing and promotion of its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa.

The payments will be divided between the states that were investigating the company, and Eli Lilly said it will take a related charge of 4 cents per share in the third quarter.

Zyprexa, the company´s top-selling drug with sales of $ 2.36 billion dollars in the first half 2008 (the world´s eighth-placed drug in sales), will continue to be available through Medicare programs in all states, the company stated.

Eli Lilly, which said there was no finding it had broken any laws, also agreed to provide the states' attorneys general with information about the compensation it paid to health care professionals who received more than $ 100 per year for promotional speaking or consulting regarding Zyprexa, and agreed to other promotional terms.

A group of insurance companies, unions and others are currently suing the drugmaker for billions of dollars, saying Eli Lilly charged too much for Zyprexa and marketed the drug for off-label uses, or ailments the drug has not been FDA-approved to treat. In July, a federal judge recommended that Eli Lilly settle this case.

The states involved in Tuesday´s settlement are Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

The company is also being sued by 11 other states not included in this settlement: Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.

Eli Lilly paid $ 15 million dollars to settle a lawsuit with the state of Alaska in March, and since 2005, the company says it has settled approximately 31,000 individual product liability suits related to the drug´s side effects.