Lilly Discontinues Potential Blockbuster

US drug maker Eli Lilly has discontinued clinical trials with evacetrapib, a potential blockbuster medicine it had hoped to recommend for treatment of high-risk atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a cause of heart attack and stroke.

The company said it had accepted the advice of independent scientists monitoring the program to end the trials due to “insufficient efficacy.”

Citing the data monitoring committee, Lilly said it appeared there was a low probability the study would achieve its primary endpoint based on results to date. There were no safety concerns, it added. After further analysis, the full results of the Phase III study involving 12,000 patients in 37 countries are to be presented in scientific forums in the future.

Analysts had calculated that evacetrapib could contribute $800 million to Lilly’s sales revenue in 2020 and as much as $2.6 billion in 2025.

The drugmaker will take a pretax charge of up to $90 million against R&D expenses in the fourth quarter, but chief financial officer Derica Rice said, “this unfortunate outcome for evacetrapib does not change our ability to generate long-term growth. Our recent string of positive data-readouts and our strong pipeline position us to grow revenue and expand margins through the remainder of this decade.”

Lilly plans to provide additional details when it presents financial results for the fourth quarter on Oct. 22.