As Eli Lilly suffers a sharp setback on revenue projections, the oncology group quietly executes 2 of its top mid-stage drugs
Eli Lilly took a hit Tuesday morning as the pharma giant revealed just how painful the withdrawal of Lartruvo will be for its oncology operations while the Cialis franchise gets eaten up by generics. Less visible was a decision to dump two mid-stage drugs from its pipeline operations, both of which had figured prominently as two of its best longterm hopes in the field.
Out in the Q1 cleanup at Lilly is the CHK1 drug prexasertib (LY2606368) and their Phase II PI3k/mTOR inhibitor, LY3023414. Both of these drugs were spotlighted in the summer of 2017 as Eli Lilly announced plans to concentrate their R&D group in oncology on 7 key programs they felt had the best shot at going on to becoming major players in the market.
The other 5 projects were: TIM-3 MAb, PD-L1 MAb, ERK 1/2 inhibitor, TGFb RI KI.
At the same time, Lilly also announced plans to partner out 7 other drugs.
Lilly today had to cut its 2019 earnings forecast by $3 billion on its collective headaches, dropping into the $22.0 to $22.5 billion range. Its shares $LLY tumbled 3% as analysts got a chance to chew over the unexpected reversal, which comes as Lilly’s diabetes franchise remains under intense pressure to rein in prices.
These pressures arrive after Lilly has taken a series of hits that have crimped its expectations. This morning Incyte noted that it decided to cut any further R&D investments on their partnered program for baricitinib, which only managed to crawl to the market at a lower dose than they had advocated for after regulators raised safety concerns for the JAK inhibitor.
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