Eli Lilly CEO Banking On New Drug Pipeline

TOM MURPHY

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — There are some life experiences few will ever have. And as the oldest of nine children and CEO of a Fortune 500 company, John Lechleiter has a couple under his belt.

As Eli Lilly and Co.'s chairman and CEO, Lechleiter brings some of his childhood lessons to bear in leading the major drug company, which is based in Indianapolis.

At the moment, the Harvard-trained chemist is trying to rally support on Wall Street. Management has raised Lilly's 2009 profit outlook twice since July, yet analysts still say the company's future is far from secure.

They question whether Lilly can fill a gaping revenue hole that will open in a few years when drugs that currently account for more than half of Lilly sales lose patent protection.

Where's the new revenue going to come from? Analysts see bigger competitors like Pfizer and Merck making huge acquisitions to add new revenue sources. Meanwhile, Lilly stakes its future on its own pipeline of drugs in development, which is only now emerging from a roughly four-year drought with the launch of the blood thinner Effient in August.