Eli Lilly Reveals Strong Q2 Results
Eli Lilly yesterday posted a strong set of financials for the second quarter of 2013, and announced that they would be raising their forecast for the full-year. The Q2 results were aided by cost-cutting and strong sales of their blockbuster drug, Cymbalta.
Net income soared by 36% to $1.25 billion, while turnover increased 6% to $5.93 billion. Eli Lilly’s top performer for the quarter was their antidepressant/ fibromyalgia blockbuster Cymbalta (duloxetine), which grew by 22% to just below $1.50 billion, while lung cancer drug Alimta (pemetrexed) rose 2% to $669.4 million. The insulin products Humalog and Humulin also increased by 2% and 8% respectively, to $628.6 million and $327.5 million.
Patent losses affected the antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine), which dropped 25% to a turnover of $283.2 million. Osteoporosis drug, Evista (raloxifene), which has also been approved for the prevention of breast cancer for certain postmenopausal women, increased 5% to $278.7 million, while sales of Eli Lilly’s other osteoporosis drug, Forteo, increased 7% to $296.9 million.
Cialis grew to $529.4 million, while the ADHD drug Strattera generated $168.3 million of sales. The bloodthinner Effient (prasugrel) which is partnered with Daiichi Sankyo, increased by 24% to $137.4 million.
Lilly’s chief executive, John Lechleiter, commented that “operating and financial discipline, along with a maturing pipeline of potential new medicines, gives me great confidence in the company’s ability to meet the challenges we face from upcoming patent expirations and to resume growth after 2014.”
As well as the Zyprexa decline, Eli Lilly will also see sales hit next year by patents expiring on Cymbalta and Evista in the USA.
Eli Lilly have increased the guidance for their full-year profit to $4.05 – $4.15 a share, up from $3.82 – $3.97.