Prozac’s slippage cuts Lilly’s earnings
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Generic Prozac has taken a big bite out of Eli Lilly and Co.’s profits, which plunged 25 percent in the last quarter of 2001 compared to the year-ago figure. The fourth-quarter results, released Thursday, brought the best evidence yet of the dramatic impact of no-name generics on sales of the Lilly brand of the famous antidepressant, which lost its patent protection last August. The Indianapolis drugmaker saw profits in the quarter fall to $575 million from $767 million a year earlier. Sales slipped 5 percent, to $2.83 billion. For all of 2001, sales increased 6 percent from 2000, to $11.5 billion, while profit sank 9 percent, to $2.78 billion. Once Lilly’s leading drug, Prozac is now on life-support, with sales falling 66 percent in the fourth quarter from a year ago, to $225 million. More : 2.indystar.com |