HONOLULU (NEWS.GNOM.ES) – Eli Lilly and Co
has hit a tough spot with the pharmaceutical company’s top treatment now facing
competition from cheaper generic brands and the looming loss of patent
protection on other drugs.
“It may be one of our most challenging periods
in our history because, as the way fate would have it, we lose patent
protection on a number of products between now and 2014,” Lilly’s Chief
Executive John Lechleiter told NEWS.GNOM.ES in an interview on the sidelines of
an Asia-Pacific summit.
Lilly’s best selling product, its $4.5 billion
a year Zyprexa schizophrenia treatment, began facing cheaper generics in the
United States a few weeks ago and the company will lose protection for
antidepressant Cymbalta in 2013 and its Evista osteoporosis drug the year
after.
“Right now I have got my hands full. My goal
is to help Lilly navigate through this tough patch,” said Lechleiter, who
joined Lilly in 1979 as an organic chemist and became CEO in 2008.
Lechleiter ruled out acquisitions to plug the
hole left by Zyprexa and pointed to Lilly’s pipeline of potential medicines
that were in the last stages of trials in the United States.
“You can’t just order up a new menu item like
it’s McDonald’s. It’s a longer-term cycle. Investors understand that,” he said.
The Indiana-based company has forecast a
minimum of $20 billion in sales, $3 billion in net income, and $4 billion in
operating cash flow for the next few years.
Lilly, the 10th largest pharmaceutical company
in the world, is now vying to become the largest player for diabetes
treatments. A recent break-up with long-term biotech partner Amylin
Pharmaceuticals Inc has freed up Lilly to pursue all types of diabetes products
instead of being blocked by firewalls enacted as part of their partnership.
Becoming No. 1 is “not out of the realm of
possibility,” said Lechleiter. The company, which was the first to bring
insulin to consumers in the 1920s, trails Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
Lechleiter said his company could be in a
position to compete effectively in insulin and oral diabetes medicines as well
as maintaining its presence among a type of drug that stimulates insulin
release when glucose levels become too high.
Lechleiter and dozens of other executives were
in Honolulu for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and discussed
trade and business concerns with officials from the 21 Asia Pacific countries,
including China.
(Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
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