US drugmaker Eli Lilly is ending development of its injectable basal insulin peglispro (BIL), a potential treatment for type 1 and type 2 diabetes, to focus on other, more promising, assets in its portfolio and pipeline. The company will take a $55 million pretax charge in the fourth quarter to end the program.

Lilly said late-stage clinical trials with the BIL treatment – a basal insulin taken by patients along with shorter-acting mealtime insulin – had thrown up unresolved questions about changes in liver fat when compared with insulin glargine treatment in the Phase 3 IMAGINE trials. These would require more time and cost more than expected to understand.

Initially, the drugmaker had intended to seek regulatory approval this year, but in February announced a delay.

Enrique Conterno, president, Lilly Diabetes, said that while the research team was encouraged by the efficacy data observed for BIL, “there was no assurance that we would find conclusive answers.” He said Lilly, which has “the industry's broadest diabetes portfolio,” including six new treatments approved since mid-2014, “remains fully committed to innovative research in the diabetes space, including insulins.