Lechleiter Says LLY Has The Most Exciting Pipeline

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Chief Executive John Lechleiter of Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE: LLY) said that the company currently has most exciting pipeline, with 65 experimental drugs in various stages of development. When asked how he motivates LLY’s employees at the time when the company is on the verge of losing US patent for its eight key drugs in exactly eight yearsDr. Lechleiter said, “Our people know we face a big challenge up ahead. They know that bringing [experimental drugs] out of the pipeline in an industry like ours is risky. I try to remind people to believe in our ability to overcome the challenges. That's the nature of the comments I make to employees on my [internal] blog, or when I'm giving speeches. I don't Twitter yet.”When asked about the reason for which the company is not pursuing big mergers:Dr. Lechleiter mentioned, “We've seen no evidence that the large combined companies are going to be any more innovative than Eli Lilly currently spending between $4 [billion] and $5 billion a year on research and development.”When asked about the strategies Eli Lilly will pursue in the coming yearsDr. Lechleiter elaborated, “I expect we're going to build up our capabilities in the area of diagnostic medicine, although we have no designs to acquire a diagnostics company. I think we can do this work with external partners.”When asked about the steps taken by the company to capitalize from the recovery in the economyDr. Lechleiter commented that LLY’s business is not dependent on the economic environment. He feels that the company needs to position their drugs “within health-care systems that are trying to meet greater demands by customers and yet control rising costs.”Read more from Benzinga's Markets.