Lilly and Glaxo's Musical Chairs

I laughed out loud in my car on the way to work this morning.

At 8:07 a.m. ET this press release from Eli Lilly (LLY) showed up on my BlackBerry. Yeah, I confess to reading it while driving. And, yeah, I know that especially as the guy who's still getting physical therapy for his finger after injuring it in a Blackberrying while walking accident, that I shouldn't be doing that. But I can't help myself. As another crackberry-addicted colleague says, it's pathological behavior. You know it's bad for you, wrong and, not to mention, illegal in some places, but you do it anyway. The Lilly release announces that Enrique Conterno is being promoted to president of Lilly USA and that Dierdre Connelly has resigned from that position to "pursue other opportunities." I hit delete. I mean, no offense to the people involved, but it's really not material or of general interest. I figured there must've been some internal politics, problem or whatever.

At 8:20 a.m. ET I get a press release from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announcing that guess who has been hired as its President of North American Pharmaceuticals effective a week from Monday. Yep, someone named Dierdre Connelly. What a coincidence!

There is, however, news this morning that is potentially material for LLY. Next Tuesday an advisory committee meets to take up the safety and efficacy of Lilly's bloodthinner Effient. The agency posts documents for panel meetings a couple of business days in advance and investors and analysts use them to try to figure out which way the wind is blowing. The FDA usually, but not always follows the advice of advisory committees. This is an important drug to LLY's future. I don't know whether it's overloaded or what, but when I repeatedly went to the page to download the briefing documents on the FDA's website it said, "Page Not Found."

So, I've gotta go with the Associated Press report on what's in the documents. The AP says the FDA's reviewers still have concerns about bleeding in some patients, but they believe the drug's "efficacy seems beyond question."

The panel will likely vote on whether to follow through with that opinion and recommend approval on Tuesday afternoon.

Comments

[cyclingscholar:]

Rather than feel guilty about Blackberry'in, instead support technologies which integrate such things into a 'smart car;' among other things, the text would be projected onto your windshield field of vision, for example. Till then watch out for drivers, pedestrians and my fellow cyclists.

cyclingscholar

Jan 30 02:26 PM