EDITORIAL: Lessons to draw from Republic-Frontier deal
Despite some post-acquisition stumbles, the moral of the story should not be that Hoosier executives need to proceed with greater caution.
Despite some post-acquisition stumbles, the moral of the story should not be that Hoosier executives need to proceed with greater caution.
In a monthly feature that runs in the first issue of the month, through October, IBJ is identifying influential players in eight different industry categories. This month, our list draws from among the city’s finest legal minds in education, public-sector law, the judicial system and the broad swath of attorneys practicing solo and in firms of all sizes.
Lilly has 33 drugs in the second and third stages of clinical trials, including medicines for cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, up from seven in 2005, the Indianapolis-based company said Thursday.
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. raised its spending 8 percent from the $2.3 million that it spent in the first quarter of last year. The drugmaker also spent 70 percent more than the $1.5 million recorded in the final quarter of 2010, according to lobbying reports filed with the House of Representatives.
Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly on Tuesday will announce a multimillion-dollar investment to develop drugs that act like two medicines in one. Lilly plans to add more scientists to back the effort.
Indiana has added 220 startups and more than 8,000 jobs in its $27 billion life sciences industry since 2002, according to a report commissioned by BioCrossroads, the Indianapolis-based life sciences development group. Despite the presence of pharmaceutical firms such as Eli Lilly and Co., medical-device manufacturing represented the biggest chunk of employment in Indiana: 20,300, or 35.5 percent, of life sciences workers. Indiana ranks third, behind New Jersey and Massachusetts, in highest quotient of life sciences workers. Though noting Indiana has made big strides to emerge as a national center in the life sciences, the report makes it clear the state still has needs. These include better access to seed/early-stage and venture capital, a more skilled work force and more focus on emerging areas such as health information technology and contract manufacturing.
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to revive a bid to press a class-action suit against Eli Lilly and Co. over the marketing of the antipsychotic Zyprexa, according to Bloomberg News. A group of pension funds, unions and insurers claimed they represented a class of third-party payors who spent $6.8 billion more on Zyprexa than they should have, because Lilly made fraudulent claims about Zyprexa’s safety and effectiveness and promoted it for non-approved uses. A federal appeals court had said the case wasn’t appropriate for class-action status and told a trial judge to consider whether the plaintiffs filing the suit could press their individual claims. Indianapolis-based Lilly in 2009 pleaded guilty to promoting Zyprexa for unapproved uses and agreed to pay $1.4 billion in criminal and civil penalties.
Wishard Health Services will change its name to Eskenazi Health after receiving a $40 million gift from Indianapolis real estate developer Sidney Eskenazi and his wife, Lois, the county-owned hospital announced June 22. The $754 million hospital Wishard is building downtown will be renamed the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital when it opens in December 2013. The Eskenazis' gift is the largest in the history of Wishard, which began as City Hospital in 1859 and adopted the Wishard name in 1975. Wishard Foundation was trying to raise $50 million to help fund construction of the new hospital. With the Eskenazis' gift, it has now raised $54 million. Sid Eskenazi, 81, started Sandor Development Co. in 1963 and has grown it into one of the nation’s largest owners of strip malls. Sandor has long-standing relationships with major retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kohl’s.
Forget this year’s loss of best-selling-drug Zyprexa’s patent. Eli Lilly and Co. faces the bleakest outlook in the pharma industry the rest of this decade, according to Bernstein Research analyst Tim Anderson.
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to revive a bid to press a $6.8 billion class-action suit against Eli Lilly and Co. over the marketing of Zyprexa, the company’s schizophrenia treatment.
Eli Lilly and Co., Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Alkermes Inc. said an analysis of a 148-patient trial found no evidence that their experimental Bydureon diabetes drug causes prolonged heart rhythms.
A 10-member commission told city leaders to turn the defunct 115-acre General Motors metal stamping plant site into a hip, funky neighborhood with an eye-catching bridge across the White River for easy access to downtown.
Eli Lilly and Co. and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s Trajenta medicine for Type 2 diabetes has been recommended for approval in Europe, putting the drug on track to enter the region’s market this year.
The city plans to tap a taxing district downtown to help pay for the Bush Stadium renovation, rekindling concern among some elected officials and taxing experts that the Mayor’s Office is using the massive district to fund whatever special city needs crop up.
The recently announced 16 Tech District adds a new tool to Indianapolis’ strong life sciences arsenal.
The U.S. government needs to open its borders to attract and retain talented scientists for drugmakers to employ, Eli Lilly & Co. CEO John Lechleiter plans to tell a technology conference Thursday.
The North of South mixed-use project in downtown Indianapolis is just the latest development for Brad Chambers, who started out in the landscaping business.
A total of 220 life sciences startups have been launched in Indiana since 2004, or an average of 44 per year, according to a new report from BioCrossroads that tracked the industry’s growth over the last eight years.
European Union regulators have approved the first once-per-week diabetes medication, the companies that developed the drug said Tuesday.
Say what? “Excessive hospitality” while promoting its drug Byetta got Eli Lilly and Co. dinged by the U.K.-based Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, a self-regulatory group. And what exactly counts as “excessive”? Seven pints of beer, two gins, two whiskies, seven whisky liqueurs and three large glasses of red wine—oh, and a taxi fare afterward, according to a summary of the case posted by the practice authority. The booze was purchased at an Indian restaurant for three Lilly sales reps and two diabetes nursing specialists. The occasion was the endocrinologist speaking about off-label uses of Byetta. The practice authority asked Lilly to look into the complaints of an ex-employee, but Lilly said there was no case to answer. The authority determined otherwise, which is why it gave Lilly its public flogging.
Indiana University Health has pulled a prominent practice of cancer physicians into its fold. Central Indiana Cancer Centers sold its five facilities to IU Health and transferred its 150 employees to the Indianapolis-based hospital system. The 16 physicians in the practice will remain independent, but they have signed a service agreement with IU Health. Financial terms of the deal, which closed June 1, were not disclosed. But it is a big win for IU Health, as Central Indiana Cancer Centers has a well-established presence in Carmel, Fishers, Greenfield, Greenwood and the east side of Indianapolis. Cancer services are key financially for hospitals because of the growing prevalence of the disease, and also because cancer patients often need surgery. IU Health now has more than 60 medical oncologists, not counting any of its radiation oncologists or cancer surgeons. Central Indiana Cancer Centers, established near Community Hospital-East in 1976, also had discussions with the three other major hospital systems in Indianapolis: Community, St. Vincent Health and Franciscan St. Francis Health. A partnership with a hospital became essential for Central Indiana Cancer Centers as hospitals have spent the past three years gobbling up physicians of all stripes—both primary care doctors and specialists. IU Health Physicians now employs more than 500 doctors and Community Health Network has more than 550.
City officials on Thursday unveiled a long-term plan to redevelop an industrial stretch northwest of downtown with the goal of attracting hundreds of residents and dozens of high-tech companies to the area. The ambitious urban renewal effort, dubbed the 16 Downtown Technology District, builds from a strategy discussed over more than a decade to turn the corridor between IUPUI and 16th Street into a life-sciences research hub. The idea is to create a trendy urban district where residents can live within blocks of work. The project could require $15 million to $20 million in public investment and hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment. It is expected to take 10-20 years to complete. Officials said a final agreement is near for the redevelopment of the historic Bush Stadium site, which is wedged between 16th Street and the White River near Harding Street. The city is contributing about $5 million to the $23 million project, including tax dollars generated in the area and more that will be transferred from the consolidated downtown tax-increment financing district. Developer John Watson said he also is seeking a federal loan to help finance part of the project. Indianapolis also will invest another $3 million in public money to renovate Indiana Avenue from roughly 10th Street to 16th Street with new landscaping, walking paths, bike lanes and other streetscape elements designed to brand the area. That funding will come from initial proceeds from the sale of the city’s water and sewer utilities to Citizens Energy Group.
When I knew I was going to the exhibit opening, I was pleased because I’d heard so much about it, but I wasn’t expecting to emerge enthusiastically recommending it to just about everyone I talk to. Yet, that’s what happened.
Those who try to predict the future do not tell us their track records, but they do ask us to buy their books.