What are your plans and strategies for the Indian market as the new GM of Eli Lilly?

Eli Lilly has been serving patients in India for over 27 years. Our purpose is to unite caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world, including India. Lilly continues to focus on reaching more patients in India aided by our strong innovation pipeline. We intend to strengthen our ability to reach people with unmet needs by sharing scientific data with healthcare providers on new medicines/indications in our therapy areas and may also partner with strong local companies on some specific therapy areas where their capabilities would help us achieve our purpose.

How did the company fare during the FY 21-22 in India? Do you expect better growth than FY20- 21?

Eli Lilly has achieved sound performance across the globe. Locally, we continue to grow our portfolio in India and extend our reach through strategic partnerships, which has left us well-poised for the future. We look forward to continuing our journey by launching new indications in 2022-23 with label updates and line extensions for our oncology and immunology products, subject to regulatory approvals.

What does 2022 hold for Lilly, in India?

COVID-19 continues to pose challenges and ensuring uninterrupted supply for our drugs and focus on digital initiatives for patient support and access to our drugs will remain a priority. We are committed to innovation and will continue to address the unmet needs of patients and caregivers with our innovative medicines. We are currently looking at venturing into newer indications expected to launch in 2022-23 with label updates and line extensions for our oncology and immunology products.

Will there be any new investments, partnerships or launches this year?

We continue to work towards introducing our pipeline of newer innovative products and bring them as early as possible to India. We do expect newer indications for oncology and venture into the dermatology therapy area this year. Developing strategic partnerships within India and the  Indian subcontinent is key to enabling Lilly’s global efforts to make innovative medicines available to more people in India and around the world, and Lilly will continue evaluating the best business model to expand patients’ access to medicines.

Would you be targeting newer therapeutic areas besides diabetes and cancer in the coming years?

Lilly has been a global leader in diabetes care since 1923, when we introduced the world’s first commercial insulin. In India too, we are identified for our diabetes and cancer products portfolio. At the same time, we have brands with strong value propositions in bone health – Osteoporosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Our investment continues to be focused on driving innovation and bringing best-in-class breakthrough products to the market within our existing therapy areas of diabetes and oncology as well as introducing our products in newer therapy areas, in the coming years. Moreover, via strategic partnerships, we continue to expand into new territories in India, and this is a strategy we will leverage to expand product accessibility to patients who need them.

Sanjiv Das

(sanjiv.das@mmactiv.com)

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