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Eli Lilly gets shot in the arm
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April 20, 1998: 12:49 p.m. ET
Drug maker's profits soar on wings of new products; stock price jumps
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - One of the world's leading drug makers, Eli Lilly, is taking its new product line straight to the bank.
Buoyed by growing product sales and the release of a new women's health drug, the global drug giant on Monday reported a 20 percent jump in earnings for the quarter ended March 31.
Net income totaled $521 million, or 46 cents per diluted share -- in line with First Call consensus estimates.
Revenues for the quarter reached $2.3 billion, up from 2.0 billion in the year-ago period.
Eli Lilly (LLY) stock jumped 3-1/2 to 71-7/8 Monday following the earnings announcement.
"Our first-quarter results continue a trend of strong performance that was realized during 1997," said Randall L. Tobias, chairman and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis-based company. "We also continue to increase our research and development investments both internally and through more than 100 external collaborations."
Analysts say there's more to come. Fully 86 percent of the company's sales growth came from five new products.
Most recent excitement has come from Evista. Launched during the first quarter, the drug prevents postmenopausal osteoporosis, a debilitating and potentially fatal condition that affects 150 million people worldwide.
"We think Evista is going to prove to be one of the biggest pharmaceutical products marketed. It really is a multi-faceted women's health drug," said analyst Richard R. Stover of Auerbach, Pollak & Richardson.
Stover said the product has a market potential of several billion dollars a year. Eli Lilly said prescriptions for Evista are growing at a steady clip, even as the product continues to undergo studies.
The company is studying Evista to determine its efficacy in preventing heart attacks and heart-related deaths in postmenopausal women.
Later this year, Lilly also will release new breast and uterine safety data, three-year data on the prevention of osteoporosis and treatment data for osteoporosis.
Lilly's other successful products include Prozac for treatment of depression; Zyprexa for schizophrenia; ReoPro for heart treatments; and Gemzar for the treatment of lung cancer.
Sales of Zyprexa alone grew 172 percent to $287 million during the quarter.
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Eli Lilly and Co.
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