(INDIANAPOLIS) – Eli Lilly expects around $27 billion dollars in revenue this year.
Lilly has slightly lowered its highest-end forecast for the year, based on reduced expectations for its COVID antibody treatment. But it says high sales of non-COVID drugs like the diabetes medications Trulicity and Jardiance, the psoriasis drug Taltz, and the breast-cancer treatment Verzenio are driving revenue higher, despite lower prices.
The Indianapolis drug company took in nearly $7 billion dollars in the second quarter, up 12% from last year even if you don’t count COVID antibody treatments. Net income was $1.4 billion, down a hair from last year’s second quarter.
The company has high hopes its next major drug is on the horizon. Lilly announced in June it expects to seek approval for a new Alzheimer’s drug later this year. The final stage of clinical trials on donanemab is underway, and chief scientific officer Dan Skovronsky says he expects those tests to confirm the drug is safe.
Donanemab seeks to reduce amyloid plaque in the brain, the gunk neurologists believe is linked to the cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s. In June, the FDA approved Aduhelm, a plaque-reducing therapy from rival Biogen. That approval has been controversial, with some doctors questioning whether the drug actually reduces the disease’s effects. Skovronsky acknowledges some doctors want to see direct evidence of the effect of Alzheimer’s drugs on cognitive decline. But he says if one accepts plaque reduction as a marker for fighting Alzheimer’s, he expects the trials on donanemab to show it to be among the most effective at accomplishing that goal.
