Eli Lilly 4th qtr net income up 39%

Eli Lilly's net income for fourth-quarter 1999 rose 39% to $786.3million, excluding one-time events, while sales grew 7% to $2.82 billion. For the full year, earnings jumped 30% to $2.72 billion on revenues $10 billion (+8%), helped mainly by strong sales of Zyprexa (olanzapine) for schizophrenia, which rose 31% to $1.44 billion. Gemzar (gemcitabine) for bladder cancer rose 49% to $455.8 million and the osteoporosis treatment Evista (raloxifene) climbed 126% to $326 million.

As expected, sales of Prozac (fluoxetine) continued to diminish, falling 13% in the fourth quarter to $645 million (though still maintaining the status of Lilly's best-selling drug), and Sidney Taurel, Lilly's chief executive, noted that with the diversification of Lilly's product line, "we have become less dependent on Prozac performance."