Surging Profits In Asian Diabetes Drugs

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is hoping for dramatically increased sales and profits in Asia.

The increasing demand in China for diabetes drugs is fueling a significant portion of this growth. Specifically, Eli Lilly anticipates that revenues in China will grow 500% by the year 2015, to nearly $1 billion.

The company hopes the growth in sales of its drugs in Asia will help mitigate the anticipated losses in sales of drugs that will lose their U.S. patent protection over the next several years.

Additionally, according to Lorenzo Tallarigo, president of international operations, Eli Lilly is also considering to outsource their Asian manufacturing in India.

“No doubt India has great capability when it comes to manufacturing,” Tallarigo said. “We don’t have anything concrete to discuss but that is definitely something we’re going to look at.”