Eli Lilly profit boosted by antidepressant sales

Eli Lilly reported asecond-quarter profit that was boosted by higher sales for the antidepressant Cymbalta, which helped trim losses from generic competition to its former top-seller, Zyprexa.

Net income at Eli Lilly, which employs 700 people in Ireland, declined 23% to €762m, Lilly said. “If you take Zyprexa out of the equation, our underlying sales grew 8 %,” chief executive John Lechleiter said.

Cheaper copies of the schizophrenia therapy Zyprexa came on the market last year, and exclusivity ends in 2013 for Cymbalta, now the company best-seller. Lilly is counting on a pipeline of experimental drugs, including the osteoporosis treatment Forteo and blood-thinner Effient, to help fuel sales after 2014.