Lilly Touts Decade of Pipeline Promise

(Image courtesy of Eli Lilly and Co.)

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Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) says its current pipeline of potential treatments could yield up to 20 new products over the course of a decade. The company, which is reporting second quarter net income of $909 million, compared to $955 million during the same period a year earlier, is currently in what Chief Executive Officer John Lechleiter calls "one of the most productive periods of new product launches" in its 140-year history. Despite a slight quarterly profit drop, Lilly says volume helped drive a 9 percent increase in revenue, compared to the same quarter in 2015.

Global revenue topped $5.4 billion in the second quarter.

Lechleiter says new medicines are making a "substantial contribution" to the company’s revenue growth in the first half of 2016. "We’ve made great progress building an R&D engine that has the potential to launch 20 new products in 10 years beginning in 2014 and extending through 2023. Because of our confidence in our future growth prospects, we are providing updated financial expectations through the balance of the decade, including at least 5 percent average annual revenue growth driven by volume and an increase in gross margin as a percent of revenue. We are also returning to annual dividend increases for shareholders and reaffirming our commitment to achieve an OPEX-to-revenue ratio of 50 percent or less in 2018."

Lilly reports the second quarter saw progress for several key products in development, including Taltz, which received regulatory approval in Japan, olaratumab, which was granted priority review status in the U.S., a positive U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee vote for Jardiance and what it calls "an encouraging read-out" in Phase 2 data for abemaciclib.

We will have more on this story throughout the day on InsideINdianaBusiness.com, social media and our afternoon e-newsletter following the company’s second quarter conference call to investors, which is slated for 9 a.m. Eastern.