Eli Lilly, Bristol Settle Claims in Dilution Case

Drug makers Eli Lilly & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. settled claims that they knew or should have known that a Kansas City, Mo., pharmacist was diluting cancer drugs.

The companies did not disclose the terms. A spokesman for Indianapolis-based Lilly would not say whether there was a financial component to the settlement, but he said the settlement would not have a material effect on the company.

Pharmacist Robert Courtney pleaded guilty in February to diluting lifesaving chemotherapy drugs prescribed to thousands of cancer patients, some of whom sued the companies that supplied Courtney with the drugs.

The drug companies have said there is no evidence they were at fault.