Posted by Griobhtha on August 4, 2004, at 14:31:24
Pharmaceuticals
With Drug Approval, Lilly Sighs Relief
FORBES.com, Matthew Herper, 08.04.04, 12:20 PM ETNEW YORK - The long-awaited heir to Prozac has finally been approved.
Cymbalta represents an attempt by drugmaker Eli Lilly (nyse: LLY - news - people ) to re-establish itself in the market it built with Prozac. The drug had been delayed as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked for more data. As forecast in New Drugs To Watch, our list of promising experimental drugs, the approval came in August. The same drug is expected to be approved under a different brand name to treat urinary incontinence later this year.
Because it is no longer experimental, Cymbalta is being removed from New Drugs To Watch. Click here, however, for a full list of such graduates.
Lilly's re-entry into the antidepressant market won't be a cinch. Prozac is now off-patent and is not a significant source of revenue for the drugmaker. In its wake, similar drugs hit the market from Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ), GlaxoSmithKline (nyse: GSK - news - people ) and Forest Laboratories (nyse: FRX - news - people ). Of special importance to Lilly will Effexor, from Wyeth (nyse: WYE - news - people ). Like Cymbalta, Effexor works by preventing the brain from reabsorbing the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine. Medicines such as Prozac and Forest's Celexa work only on serotonin.
To market its medicine in a crowded field, Lilly is emphasizing that Cymbalta helps not only with the mental symptoms of depression but also with physical aches and pains that often accompany the disease. Some 19 million Americans are thought to struggle with depression in any given year. Lilly, known for having one of the best new drug pipelines in the pharmaceutical industry, has also had cancer drug Alimta and erectile dysfunction treatment Cialis approved within the past 12 months.
poster:Griobhtha
thread:374053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040730/msgs/374053.html