Content about Eli Lilly

INDIANAPOLIS — Drug makers Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly have started a campaign designed to educate healthcare professionals about the role a type of protein plays in maintaining blood-sugar balance.

BI and Lilly created the website sglt.com to inform users about the role of sodium glucose co-transporters. The program also includes a video, Glucose Perspectives, in the form of a sketch animation by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly are seeking regulatory approval for an experimental drug to treat Type 2 diabetes, the companies said Monday.

BI and Lilly announced the submission of a regulatory application to the Food and Drug Administration for empagliflozin. The drug belongs to a new drug class known as SGLT2 inhibitors, which work by removing excess glucose through the urine by blocking its reabsorption in the kidneys. The companies are testing the drug in a late-stage clinical trial for which they plan to enroll 14,500 patients.

NEW YORK — Biotech drug maker Amgen plans to launch six biosimilar drugs starting in 2017, according to published reports.

INDIANAPOLIS – Eli Lilly is spending $140 million to expand its insulin manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, the drug maker said.

Lilly said it would expand the plant by 80,000 sq. ft., saying it represented one of the most significant investments in its U.S. manufacturing operations in the past decade. Construction is expected to start immediately, with completion planned for March 2014.

SPARKS, Md. — Global flavorings leader McCormick named Eli Lilly executive Jacques Tapiero to its board.

Tapiero has served as SVP and president of emerging markets for Lilly since 2009 and brings more than 25 years of international business experience to the $3.5 billion spice company. Tapiero currently leads Lilly's business strategy in many of the world's fastest-growing markets, such as China, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Turkey. He is a member of Lilly's executive committee.

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly announced that Michael Harrington will be promoted to SVP and general counsel, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Harrington — who currently serves as VP and deputy general counsel for the drug maker and is responsible for the legal function across Lilly's five business units — will replace Robert Armitage, who will retire at the end of the year. In his new role, Harrington will report to Lilly chairman, president and CEO John Lechleiter and will serve on the company's executive committee.

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly has ceased ongoing clinical studies of an investigational treatment for schizophrenia.

The drug maker said that after recently conducting an independent futility analysis, it concluded that the second of Lilly's two pivotal studies "was unlikely to be positive in its primary efficacy endpoint if enrolled to completion." Additionally, the recently completed phase-2 study, which investigated pomaglumetad methionil (also known as mGlu2/3) as an adjunctive treatment with atypical antipsychotics, did not meet its primary endpoint.

INDIANAPOLIS — A clinical trial of a drug for schizophrenia did not yield the desired results, the drug's developer said.

Eli Lilly announced results of the H8Y-MC-HBBM study of pomaglumetad methionil, for patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. The company said results did not show the drug produced a significantly different effect from the placebo.

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly announced that it has met Food and Drug Administration requirements for pediatric exclusivity for its antidepressant medication.

Based on this decision by the FDA, Lilly has gained an additional six months of U.S. market exclusivity for Cymbalta (duloxetine hydrochloride), which now will expire in December 2013.

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — A drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes produced significant reduction in blood sugar in African-American patients, according to results of a late-stage clinical trial.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly announced Thursday results of a phase-3 trial of Tradjenta (linagliptin) in which 226 patients with Type 2 diabetes received 5 mg of the drug once per day or placebo.

BOSTON — The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America announced Friday the appointment of Eli Lilly chairman, president and CEO John Lechleiter as PhRMA chairman at its annual meeting. The group also elected Celgene president and CEO Robert Hugin as chairman-elect of its board of directors and Pfizer president and CEO Ian Read as board treasurer. Lechleiter replaces Sanofi CEO Christopher Viehbacher as chairman.

The market for drugs to treat diabetes — especially Type 2 diabetes — has shown quite a bit of activity lately. At the end of January, the Food and Drug Administration approved Bydureon (exenatide), a once-weekly version of the drug Byetta, which was originally developed by Alkermes and subsequently developed further under an alliance between Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly that the two companies formed in 2002. In November 2011, however, Amylin and Lilly terminated their alliance in the wake of an announced diabetes drug partnership between Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim.