FTC Confirms Lilly Settlement for Prozac Privacy Violation

Originally published by Reuters Health, January 18, 2002

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) confirmed on Friday that Eli Lilly & Co. has agreed to settle charges the agency filed against the company for releasing a list of patients who used its anti-depressant drug Prozac (fluoxetine).

On June 27, more than 700 customers who had signed up for Indianapolis-based Lilly's "Medi-messenger" service, which sent daily e-mail reminders to customers to take their prescribed dose of Prozac, were able to see the e-mail addresses of all recipients of the e-mail.

Shortly thereafter, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the FTC to investigate the matter as an unfair or deceptive trade practice because customers had been led to believe that their identities would be kept secret.

Although Lilly has publically apologized for the blunder, calling it a mistake, J. Howard Beales III, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement that "even the unintentional release of sensitive medical information is a serious breach of consumers' trust."

While the terms of the settlement remain undisclosed, the FTC said that it would in part require Lilly to take appropriate security measures to protect consumer privacy.

In Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Indianapolis, Indiana-based Lilly closed down 0.83 at 74.60.