The Indianapolis drugmaker said dulaglutide performed as well as Victoza, a best-selling drug for Type 2 diabetics made by Denmark-based Novo Nordisk. Analysts think dulaglutide could reach annual sales of $1.5 billion.
Companies are part of broad coalitions that have saved us from wrong-headed legislation.
An entrepreneur, risking personal wealth, would approach the problem from a different angle.
One of Eli Lilly and Co.’s experimental diabetes drugs was as effective at lowering blood sugar levels as Victoza, the leading drug on the market. Indianapolis-based Lilly said its drug dulaglutide showed “non-inferiority” when tested against the strongest dose of Victoza, a best-selling drug for Type 2 diabetics made by Denmark-based Novo Nordisk A/S. The study of 599 patients examined the effect on hemoglobin A1c scores, a measure of diabetes control. Lilly said it would wait to disclose detailed results of its Phase 3 clinical trial of the two drugs until scientific meetings later this year. But the result is good news for Lilly, which is counting on dulaglutide and a few other drugs it plans to launch this year to rejuvenate its sales after the patent expiration in December of its top-selling drug, Cymbalta. Before the latest study, Wall Street analysts predicted dulaglutide could achieve $1.5 billion a year in sales. Victoza generated $2.1 billion in 2013 sales for Novo Nordisk, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and was the top seller in its class. Dulaglutide has already proved itself superior to other diabetes drugs, including metformin, Byetta and Januvia, in clinicial studies announced last year. Dulaglutide has been submitted to U.S. regulators for approval, with a decision expected by September.
Pharmacists would be able to substitute an interchangeable biosimilar drug for a prescribed name-brand product under a bill passed by the Indiana House of Representatives last week. The bill now moves to the Governor’s Office for consideration. The legislation, authored by Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek, creates a series of steps to ensure the safety of automatic substitution of biosimilar medications. Senate Bill 262 includes five principles supported by BIO, the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Biosimilar drugs are generic versions of biotech drugs, which are developed from organically produced proteins. Traditional pills are synthesized from chemicals.
Louisville-based KentuckyOne Health, a hospital system that employs more than 14,000 people in Kentucky and southern Indiana, has laid off about 500 people to help reduce a $218 million deficit, according to the Associated Press. In addition, the company said it would not fill 200 job vacancies, to further reduce costs. Hospital systems across the country have begun slashing work forces to reduce bloated budgets after years of aggressive building, while adjusting to lower Medicare reimbursement and reductions in Medicaid funding.
Richard DiMarchi is being honored for his work on Eli Lilly and Co.'s Humalog, which has been used by millions around the world to address the complications of diabetes.
The Lilly-Boehringer drug empagliflozin is projected to reach sales of $295 million for Lilly in 2019, but it won’t be able to sell it until issues are resolved at a German plant.
Dow AgroSciences LLC is spending millions of dollars and racking up hundreds of patents as its expands ever deeper in the burgeoning global market for genetically modified crops and pesticides.
Dow AgroSciences LLC predicts its $7 billion in annual sales will double over the next five to 10 years as it launches 13 new products by 2018. The biggest of those products is expected to be its Enlist Weed Control System, which is set to hit markets in 2015. Enlist kills weeds that have grown resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular Roundup herbicide developed by competitor Monsanto Co. The new products stem from a bevy of R&D activity at Dow Agro’s headquarters at West 96th Street and Zionsville Road. The company had nearly 3,500 patents worldwide at the end of 2013, up from 2,800 just a year earlier, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The global market for agricultural technology is valued at $100 billion and is set to explode as the human population swells from the current 7 billion to an anticipated 9 billion by 2050.
The University of Indianapolis is negotiating with developers to finance a $22 million to $30 million health sciences center adjacent to its south-side campus. UIndy would be the main tenant in the 134,000-square-foot building, which is slated to open in August 2015 on the southwest corner of Hanna and State avenues. UIndy officials declined to name the developers it is talking to, but said it would select one this spring. In addition, UIndy plans to release a request for proposals at the end of March to health agencies or hospital systems to potentially open clinical space in the center or operate a partnership with the university to study and improve health disparities in the city and state. On a parallel track, UIndy is talking to other health care providers about opening a presence in the new building. According to UIndy President Robert Manuel, the school has had talks with one provider that operates 250 clinics around the Midwest. Roughly 34,000 square feet of the building is earmarked for those partners, Manuel said.
Empagliflozin, a diabetes pill developed by Eli Lilly and Co. and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, was rejected by U.S. regulators because of unresolved manufacturing deficiencies at a German plant, Bloomberg News reported. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspected Boehringer’s Ingelheim am Rhein facility in 2012 and warned the company of the faults in May 2013. No new clinical studies will be needed to approve the drug. The FDA re-inspection of Boehringer’s plant is continuing, said company spokeswoman Emily Baier. It could take up to six months after the inspection for the FDA to decide whether the problems have been fixed. Empagliflozin is part of a class of drugs that includes Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana and AstraZeneca Plc’s Forxiga. The drugs help the body get rid of sugar through the kidneys. The Lilly-Boehringer drug is projected to reach sales of $295 million for Lilly in 2019, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
A moratorium on the construction of nursing homes in Indiana is now in a legislative conference committee, where lawmakers will seek a compromise between a five-year Senate version and a one-year version passed by the House. Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, said the moratorium called for in Senate Bill 173—through June 30, 2015—would save money for the state, as well as nursing home facilities, according to The Statehouse File. Hospitals and facilities with fewer than 10 beds would be exempt from the moratorium. The bill would not affect assisted-living homes or the transfer of Medicaid beds. Brown said Indiana's nursing homes aren’t full and that the state is paying a part of those fixed costs. But Rep. Todd Huston, R-Fishers, called the bill an “over-the-top solution to a market-based problem.”
Health insurers such as Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. and Louisville-based Humana Inc. stand to receive $5.5 billion next year to cover losses from Obamacare in a program the law’s opponents label a bailout, according to Bloomberg News. The money, outlined in President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins in October, is designated to help insurers who find the cost of the law higher than expected, based on the percentage of older, sicker people who sign up compared with younger enrollees. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, insurers who record a profit of 3 percent or more on their Obamacare business would put some of the gains into a government-controlled fund. Companies whose claims cost at least 3 percent more than their premium revenue can access the money. The administration expects to collect enough from profitable insurers to cover the costs of payments to other companies in the risk corridors program, Emily Cain, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, said in an email.
In his recent State of the City address, Mayor Ballard expanded on a familiar theme of making Indianapolis a more livable city, one that can build on its unique amenities to attract middle- and upper-income residents back into Marion County and even the old city limits.
From baring the sole of one’s shoe to giving a time piece and chilling the wine, opportunities to offend abound.
Tobias Center’s Hoosier Fellows experiential leadership program offers unmatched opportunities.
Now that Mayor Greg Ballard is lobbying to build a criminal justice complex on part of the property—a use not included in any of five initial proposals—one hopeful development team believes it’s time for the public to see what it envisions for the site.
Scientists have discovered that a gene-regulating protein that protects the developing brain of a fetus resurfaces in old age and may stave off dementia, a finding that could open a new path in Alzheimer’s research.
Education. Work-force development. Quality child care. The war on poverty. Crime. Economics. These are all familiar words and phrases used readily by policymakers, business leaders and child advocates. But rarely have the concepts been more tightly intertwined into good state policy than they were during this session of the General Assembly.
Former Eli Lilly and Co. Nick LeRoy will lead the state board, which reviews, approves and regulates some of the state’s charter schools.
Indianapolis-based Lilly is expected to garner $518 million in annual sales from Jardiance by 2019, according to the average of five analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Lilly CEO John Lechleiter was paid $11.2 million in salary, bonus, stock and perks last year, according to Lilly’s proxy statement filed Monday morning. That represented a 10-percent increase over his take in 2012.
A larger stock award boosted cash and stock payments to John Lechleiter, CEO of Eli Lilly and Co. in 2013, but overall compensation fell for the top executives of the Indianapolis-based drugmaker. Lechleiter was paid $11.22 million in salary, bonus, stock and perks, according to Lilly’s proxy statement filed Monday morning. That represented a 10-percent increase over his take of cash and stock in 2012. A rise in the value of Lechleiter’s pension boosted his 2012 total compensation more than $4.4 million, but his pension value remained flat in 2013 because Lilly raised the discount rate it used to calculate the present value of its pension liabilities. As a result, when pension values are included, Lechleiter’s total compensation actually fell 23 percent last year compared with the previous year. Smaller increases in pension values also depressed overall compensation of three other top executives at Lilly, ranging from as little as 1.5 percent for Jan Lundberg, president of Lilly Research Laboratories, to as much as 25 percent for Derica Rice, Lilly’s chief financial officer. When those actuarial fluctuations are excluded, compensation for those other executives remained flat from 2012 to 2013.
The stock price of West Lafayette-based Endocyte Inc. skyrocketed 92 percent Friday after the drug company got a thumbs up in Europe to market its first drug and received a new round of favorable clinical trial results. The drug, vintafolide, received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency to treat a small group of ovarian cancer patients who have tried other treatments. Assuming that opinion is followed by the European Commission, Endocyte and its partner Merck & Co. Inc. would begin selling the drug and its companion imaging agent later this year. The drug, which will be sold by Merck, has received the brand name of Vynfinit while the imaging agent will have the brand Folcepri, and will be sold by Endocyte. Also, West Lafayette-based Endocyte announced that vintafolide proved effective at treating non-small cell lung cancer in a Phase 2 trial. Patients receiving vintafolide and traditional chemotherapy agents had a 25-percent reduction in the risk of death or of their cancer worsening, compared with patients receiving only chemotherapy. The dual announcements, both released before the markets opened Friday, ignited investor interest. Endocyte’s shares closed at $28.17 on Friday, up from $14.64 the previous day.
A new master of public health program at the University of Indianapolis beginning this fall will prepare professionals to identify health disparities and develop community-based approaches to close the gaps. The two-year program will be conducted primarily online, and will ramp up to enroll more than 30 students. It will be the only one in Indiana focused on health disparities, which are the preventable differences in health among populations that can occur along lines of age, sex, ethnicity, geography and socioeconomic status. UIndy expects to develop other concentrations within the master of public health program as part of a broader expansion of its health sciences facilities, faculty and programs.
A European Medicines Agency panel recommended approval of a Type 2 diabetes drug from Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH and Eli Lilly and Co. that was delayed this month by U.S. regulators due to manufacturing deficiencies. The drug, empagliflozin, is expected to bring Indianapolis-based Lilly $519 million in annual revenue by 2019, according to an average of five analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News. Empagliflozin would be sold under the brand name Jardiance, according to the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, whose recommendation must still be OK’d by the European Commission. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said this month it wouldn’t approve the drug until Boehringer fixes problems disclosed in May after a 2012 inspection of a plant at the company’s headquarters in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany.
