Transcript “By Learning From Failures, Lilly Keeps Drug Pipeline Full”

“By Learning From Failures, Lilly
Keeps Drug Pipeline Full”
Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2004
Eli Lilly & Co.
• Creates new drugs for a variety of diseases.
• One of the top companies in drug research.
• Rose from $10 billion in 1999 to $12.58 billion
in 2003.
• Located in Indianapolis, IN.
• 38, 290 employees in more than 50 countries.
Article
• The article is about how Eli Lilly & Co. has had
major successes in the drug industry by taking
their failed drugs and applying them to other
conditions.
• For example, the experimental chemotheraphy
drug Almita killed the first 3 patients and was
almost written off until Dr. Nyikiza found that a
simple solution would allow for the drug to be
safe for the use of mesothelioma. Which is a
rare type of cancer caused by the exposure of
asbestos.
Eli Lilly
• Stands apart from its competitors because
they encourage their scientists to take risks
and accept that failure will happen.
• Experimental drugs have a 90% failure rate
and Eli Lilly takes an approach of using these
failed drugs to look for a cure for a different
condition.
Continued
• Lilly has taken this approach to unusual lengths. It
assigns someone -- often a team of doctors and
scientists -- to retrospectively analyze every
compound that has failed at any point in human
clinical trials. Blair Sheppard, a management
professor at Duke University who's done
consulting work for Lilly and other
pharmaceutical companies, says that Lilly
developed "a formalized and thoughtful process
in which it reviewed failures more honestly, more
deeply and started the process sooner than
anyone else."
Conclusion
• Eli Lilly and Co. has attained much of their
success by accepting failure and looking for
other uses for that drug.
• It has utilized scientists and researchers to
work together to find solutions.
• The company has adopted an approach to
take risks and not fear the idea of failure.
• This has led to a company that is a leader in
new drugs and drug research.