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27 July 2017Americas

GSK cuts down on R&D projects; Eli Lilly to update oncology strategy

GSK has revealed plans to cut back on research and development (R&D), while Eli Lilly announced a plan to focus its R&D resources on oncology.

In its second quarter earnings release, published yesterday, GSK said that as part of its “efforts to prioritise and allocate resources in R&D”, it is terminating development programmes that are “unlikely to generate sufficient returns”.

So far, GSK has made decisions to terminate, work with others on or divest more than 30 pre-clinical and clinical programmes.

GSK has also undertaken a strategic review of its rare diseases unit and is now considering options for its future ownership.

Its pharmaceutical R&D pipeline was also reviewed and GSK developed a priority list of assets to invest in.

GSK has targeted an allocation of 80% of capital to priority assets in two current therapy areas (respiratory and HIV/infectious diseases) and two potential areas (oncology and immuno-inflammation).

Eli Lilly released its earnings on Tuesday, July 25, announcing that its R&D expenses for 2017 are now expected to be in the range of $5 billion to $5.2 billion.

Eight products have been launched in the oncology arena since 2014, and Eli Lilly said there are two more potential launches by the end of 2018.

“In addition to building upon new oncology products such as Cyramza (ramucirumab), Lartruvo (olaratumab) and abemaciclib, Lilly will pursue new standard of care changing therapies that target tumour dependencies in molecularly enriched populations, build rational combinations that overcome resistance, and develop next-generation immunotherapies,” said Eli Lilly.

The company will now prioritise seven pipeline assets for development and three additional assets which are pending data from ongoing trials.

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