Eli Lilly to focus on injectables, cancer drugs

The US-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly will focus on the injectables market and oncology in the coming year.

Addressing media persons, Edgard A Olaizola, Managing Director, Eli Lilly and Company (India), said the company will focus more on commercialising injectables in India, as they are the fastest growing segment in the treatment of diabetes. Eli Lilly recently launched its once-a-week injectable drug Trulicity, for diabetes in India. The drug is priced at ₹2,499.

Diabetes treatment market accounts for about $1 billion, of which 25 per cent is injectables market and rest oral and insulin market. The company has a market share of 25 per cent in diabetes market in India. Stating that injectable market is growing at the rate of 27 per cent, Olaizola said, “This market is growing faster than that of insulin in India.”

Developing cancer drugs is another key area for the company. “Currently, we are concentrating in lung cancer treatment. We are developing drugs for gastric cancer and are awaiting the regulator’s approval for the same,” he added.

Eli Lilly, which focuses on innovation, invests about 24 per cent of this revenue in research and development. The company has over 50 drugs under clinical trials, of which seven are in the final stages. Olaizola said, “We will launch one diabetic drug by the end of this year and one cancer drug by next year in India.” Apart from diabetes and oncology, Olaizola said the company is looking for opportunities to enter into India’s therapeutics segment as well.

Eli Lilly recently acquired Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis’s animal health business. Olaizola said the animal health business handled by Elanco India, Eli Lilly’s affiliate, is an important division for the company and will strengthen the company’s animal health portfolio.

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