Publications
Publications
- October 1997 (Revised September 2003)
- HBS Case Collection
Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (A)
By: Stefan H. Thomke, Ashok Nimgade and Paul Pospisil
Abstract
Describes how Eli Lilly and Co. tries to accelerate its new drug development process with the aid of "combinatorial chemistry"--a rapidly emerging and revolutionary approach to preclinical drug discovery. The product manager of a potential blockbuster migraine drug faces the decision of "racing" the drug to market or spending additional time to refine an already promising drug candidate. Focuses on: (1) the new drug development process with an emphasis on pre-clinical drug discovery; (2) radical innovations ("combinatorial chemistry") in the drug discovery process; (3) the managerial challenges of introducing such innovations into a large organization with multiple stakeholders; (4) the financial value of time-to-market; and (5) the changing competitive environment in the pharmaceutical industry.
Keywords
Chemicals; Finance; Innovation And Invention; Time Management; Markets; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Problems And Challenges; Business And Stakeholder Relations; Competition; Pharmaceutical Industry
Citation
Thomke, Stefan H., Ashok Nimgade, and Paul Pospisil. "Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (A)." Harvard Business School Case 698-010, October 1997. (Revised September 2003.)
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