Eli Lilly Profit Drops After Cymbalta Patent Expiration

By Ben Fox Rubin 

Eli Lilly & Co. said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 12%, driven by a sharp drop in sales for the antidepressant Cymbalta after its recent patent expiration.

The drug maker is in the midst of a wave of patent expirations that has pressured sales. Earlier this month, Chief Financial Officer Derica Rice said 2014 is expected to be "the most financially challenging year of Lilly's current period of patent expirations," after the expirations of Cymbalta last month and of osteoporosis treatment Evista coming in March.

CEO John C. Lechleiter reiterated that point Thursday, saying those patent expirations "will result in a substantial decline in revenue and earnings in 2014." Lilly backed its full-year guidance.

The company hopes to jump-start sales by bringing new drugs to market. "We anticipate launching several new medicines this year and returning our company to growth in 2015 and beyond," Mr. Lechleiter said.

Lilly reported a profit of $727.5 million, or 67 cents a share, down from $827.2 million, or 74 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items such as asset impairment and restructuring charges, per-share earnings were 74 cents, down from 85 cents.

Revenue shrank 2.5% to $5.81 billion in part to lower volume.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings of 74 cents a share on revenue of $5.46 billion.

Sales of Cymbalta slumped 38% to $883.2 million as generic competitors entered the market. Sales of the chemotherapy drug Alimta grew 6.1%, and those for diabetes treatment Humalog increased 19%.

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