A Lil' Bit about Eli Lilly
#2 in The Biggest BIG PHARMAs and Why They're Big Series
In this series, The Biggest BIG PHARMAs and Why They're Big series, I’m going to be looking at the top Pharma companies by market cap and explore some of their history and biggest money making products.
Eli Lilly
Eli Lily is the second biggest Pharmaceutical company by market cap.
As of August 2022, Eli Lilly had a market cap of $289.02 billion. That makes it the 26th most valuable company in the world.
About Eli Lilly
Headquartered in Indianapolis, IN
36,000+ employees worldwide
8,600 in R&D
Research conducted in 55 countries
R&D and Manufacturing in 7 countries
Products marketed in 120 countries
2021 Financials:
$28.3 Billion in revenue
$5.58 Billion in net income
CEO David A. Ricks
25 year Lilly veteran
BS from Purdue, MBA from Indiana University
Sources: lilly.com
History
Lilly was founded in 1876 by Colonel Eli Lily, Civil War veteran & chemist. Among the first drugs manufactured was Quinine, used to treat malaria. They were the first to use gelatin coating for pills.
Lilly was a pioneer in many of the innovations that became standard practice in the modern pharmaceutical industry, and pioneered ethical practices that eschewed common outlandish claims made by patent medicines of the era. The company was an early advocate for federal regulation of medicines.
By 1905, the company and achieved sales of $1 million.
The early 20th century marked the development of new medicines, but also new manufacturing techniques that made for greater standardization and more precise dosages.
In 1919, Lilly began to mass produce insulin as a treatment for diabetes, with Lilly scientists sharing the 1923 Nobel prize for medicine with academic researchers in the field.
During World War II, Lilly manufactured Merthiolate and pencillin for the war effort and partnered with the American Red Cross to process blood plasma.
The 1950s brought major new drugs including the antibiotics vanomycin and erythromycin, as well as the manufacture and distribution of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine, of which they manufactured 60% of the global supply.
In the 1970s and 1980s Lilly introduced new antibiotics, heart drugs, antiarthritics, and leukemia treatments. They also expanded into medical instruments with the acquisition of IVAC Corporation in 1977, Physio Control (1980), Advance Cardiovascular Systems (1984) and Hybridtech (1986).
In 1987, Prozac was approved. It’s one of the most widely used drugs to treat clinical depression. It was one of the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Lilly partnered with Icos Corporation in 1998 to develop Cialis, a drug for erectile dysfunction, and later acquired Icos.
I’m just going to list out some acquisitions from the last 10 years or so:
Novartis AG animal health business (2014)
CoLucid Pharmaceuticals (2017) to gain migraine therapy candidate Iasmiditan
Armo Biosciences (2018)
Loxo Oncology (2019) for oral TRK inhibitor Vitrakvi and other drugs.
Dermira (2020) for lebrikizumab and glycopyrronium cloth used to treat hyperhidrosis
Also in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lilly deployed Mobile Research Units to study outbreaks across the US. They partnered with Amgen to manufacture COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapies. In 2021, the FDA revoked the Emergency Use Authorization for the treatment.
Dark stuff
1989: A multiple murder/suicide calls into question the safety of Prozac and other antidepressants.
2008: Lilly bought bovine growth hormone manufacturing rights from Monsanto.
2009: Lilly payed the largest criminal fine in history of $1.4 Billion for illegal marketing of Zyprexa, an atypical antipsychotic.
2017-2019: In 2017, the SEC opened an investigation into insulin price hikes and in 2019, Congress requested explanations for increasing insulin prices after prices effectively doubled from 2012 to 2016.
Sources: wikipedia, lilly.com, drugwatch.com
Biggest Drugs
Actos- oral diabetes medicine that helps control blood sugar levels for type 2 diabetics
Axiron- topical testosterone treatment
Cialis- blood muscles in blood vessels to increase bloodflow… yeah it’s used primarily to treat erectile dysfunction
Cymbalta- SSRI class antidepressant. Also used to treat general anxiety disorder and diabetic neuropathy and fibromyalgia
Humalog- fast acting insulin. Used to treat type 1 and type 2 diabetes
Jardiance- oral diabetes medicine used to control blood sugar by helping kidneys get rid of glucose from blood stream
Prozac- SSRI class antidepressant. Used to treat major depression, bulimia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and premenstural dysphoric disorder