Generic competition has again played havoc with Eli Lilly’s financials with third-quarter net income falling 58% to $500.6 million.
Sales fell 16% to $4.88 billion, with loss of US patent protection savaging revenues from its antidepressant/fibromyalgia blockbuster Cymbalta (duloxetine), down 73% to $368.0 million. The osteoporosis/breast cancer drug Evista (raloxifene) slumped 65% to $89.5 million, also hit by generics.
On the positive side, the lung cancer drug Alimta (pemetrexed) increased 5% to $723.4 million, while the insulin products Humalog and Humulin rose 15% and 9% respectively, to $706.1 million and $335.9 million.
The continued effect of patent losses hit the antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine), which had turnover of $257.4 million, down 8%, but Lilly’s other osteoporosis drug Forteo (teriparatide) was up 8% to $332.2 million.
The erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (tadalafil) rose 8% to $568.4 million, while the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Strattera (atomoxetine) generated $191.9 million of sales, up 11%. The bloodthinner Effient (prasugrel) which is partnered with Daiichi Sankyo, climbed 5% to $131.5 million.
Chief executive John Lechleiter was upbeat, noting that “our clinical pipeline is now producing strong momentum to drive future growth”. He added that in the past quarter alone, three new medicines were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration “and several others had positive data readouts”.
The FDA has recently gave the green light to Jardiance (empagliflozin), partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim, and Trulicity (dulaglutide) for type 2 diabetes and granted tentative approval for Lilly/BI’s version of Sanofi’s blockbuster Lantus (insulin glargine).
