Lilly Diabetes and Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW) have expanded their US collaboration to bring educational materials to children with type 1 diabetes and their families worldwide.

The educational resources will include a series of books featuring Mickey Mouse and his friend Coco the monkey, who has type 1 diabetes, to be translated and distributed initially in 18 countries.

The UK has recently seen an increase (as yet unexplained) in type 1 diabetes – a genetic auto-immune condition – among children, and lack of effective patient education has been identified by Diabetes UK as a significant problem.

The materials produced by the Lilly-Disney partnership will be available from diabetes healthcare professionals, and will aim to guide families in meeting the challenge of type 1 diabetes control in children.

Effective control of type 1 diabetes requires a blend of medication (injected insulin), carefully managed diet and exercise, and regular monitoring and dose adjustment. For many families, managing the condition in a child is disruptive and traumatic.

Speakers at the recent UK conference Diabetes: A Call to Action emphasised that a strict focus on blood glucose targets can be counter-productive, and that control needs to be integrated with a healthy and positive lifestyle. The Lilly-Disney materials reflect this philosophy, focusing on management of opportunities rather than on negative restrictions.

“We are excited to be part of this effort to bring informational material about type 1 diabetes to kids around the world who are living with the disease,” said Andrew Sugerman, Executive Vice President of DPW. “Lilly Diabetes’ expertise with the disease, combined with Disney’s tradition of great storytelling, gives us an opportunity to inspire and motivate children and families with type 1 diabetes.”

Andrew Hodge, Vice President, International of Lilly Diabetes, commented: “Lilly Diabetes’ objective is to bring safety, health, comfort and a bit of magic to children worldwide. We saw the positive impact our collaboration with Disney Publishing Worldwide had on families living with type 1 diabetes in the US over the last two years, and we are excited to expand our reach globally.”

Celgene’s Chairman and CEO Robert Hugin (pictured) has been appointed chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

He succeeds Eli Lilly’s John Lechleiter and said his priorities for his 12-month term are to defend intellectual property and the incentives for new medicines.

John Castellani, PhRMA President and CEO, said the new chair will provide a “strong foundation for the millions of US jobs our industry creates and supports” through his policies.

Mr Hugin was appointed Celgene chair in 2011 having served as president since 2010 and chief operating officer since 2006.

“I look forward to working with our leadership team, the PhRMA staff, and our member companies to advocate for policies that support the advancement of medical innovation and that ensure access for patients to life-extending therapies,” Mr Hugin said. “Through our actions, we must ensure that continued medical innovation is part of the solution to healthcare costs and economic growth in the long term.”

Alongside Hugin’s appointment, the trade body also appointed Pfizer’s president and CEO Ian Read as the next chair and Merck and Co’s chief executive Kenneth Frazier as treasurer.

Reports from America claim Eli Lilly is set to reduce its sales force in the US by nearly a third ahead of key patent expiries for Cymbalta and Evista.

According to the Wall Street Journal, up to 1,000 sales staff will be made redundant by the end of July as the company combats falling revenues streams.

It’s believed that the job losses will come from a combination of internal sales staff and contractual workers, claimed a person “familiar with the matter”, the paper said.

Cymbalta and Evista earned the company $6bn in sales last year, around 43% of overall US sales for the Indianapolis-based company. But those sales are expected to fall significantly when Cymbalta, a treatment for depression and anxiety, is exposed to generic competition in the US this year and osteoporosis treatment Evista follows in 2014.

Lilly has already lost around $5bn in sales after its schizophrenia drug Zyprexa lost patent protection and its pipeline has so far failed to produce any potential new ‘blockbuster’ brands.

Eli Lilly’s Alimta (pemetrexed) has not been recommended in new draft guidance as a maintenance treatment option for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

NICE recognised the effectiveness of the treatment but said the potential gain for patients is less than the NHS is being asked to pay for the drug.

A disappointed Sir Andrew Dillon said the Institute can only recommend treatments “which are both clinically and cost effective” for the NHS.

The Institute calculates that the average cost of the treatment is approximately £11,640.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the UK. NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer and accounts for around 80% of all cases.

Alimta was being considered as a maintenance treatment option following induction therapy with the drug and cisplatin. It is already recommended as a first line treatment option for NSCLC and as a maintenance treatment option following platinum-based chemotherapy in combination with gemcitabine, paclitaxel or docetaxel.

“Alimta is already recommended as maintenance treatment following a different first line treatment,” said Sir Andrew Dillon. “However, in this case, as maintenance treatment following pemetrexed and cisplatin, although effective, the potential gain for patients is less but the cost to the NHS remains the same.

“It is disappointing not to be able to recommend pemetrexed in our preliminary guidance.”

The pharmaceutical industry’s reputation in the last twelve months has declined worldwide, a new survey has found.

Only a third of patient groups now believe that pharma has an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ reputation, figures from PatientView’s independent 2012 annual review show. In 2011, 42% of respondents had the same opinion.

A global survey of some 600 international, national and regional patient groups showed that 66% of respondents felt the industry needed to do more to improve its corporate image and its relationship with patients.

Respondents were quizzed on their impression of 29 of the largest global pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and Roche.

Up to half of responses claimed that pharma had a ‘poor’ record in 2012 for its pricing policies. Nearly the same amount (48%) also claimed that the industry had a ‘poor’ record for being transparent over the last twelve months.

There was also a marked change in opinions of the way pharma manages adverse news about its products – down 29% compared to the 2011 results; of whether it has ethical marketing practices – a fall of 23% on the 2011 data; and of its relationship with the media – down 19% on last year’s results.

But the survey was not all bad news for pharma. As part of the study, respondents were asked to provide feedback on six key indicators that influence corporate reputation: patient-centeredness; patient information; patient safety; useful products; transparency; and integrity. Lundbeck topped the charts after it received the highest ranking overall and moved up three places on 2011’s chart – see below.

Gilead Sciences, which jumped from 10^th in 2011 to 2^nd last year, and Eli Lilly, which improved from 18^th to 9^th place, also had reason to celebrate.

Eli Lilly has resumed sole development and commercialisation rights to a new insulin analogue formerly covered by its diabetes alliance with Boehringer Ingelheim.

The alliance, formed two years ago, centred on four pipeline compounds relevant to major aspects of diabetes treatment.

The basal insulin analogue LY2605541will now progress to clinical trials under Lilly’s sole control.

The two companies are still working together to develop and commercialise three products including Trajenta (linagliptin), a drug for type 2 diabetes.

The partnership aimed to provide a broad portfolio of drugs for people with diabetes, but Lilly has now opted to shift LY2605541to its own drug portfolio.

Lilly will continue with the planned clinical trials of LY2605541, which will support regulatory submissions and evaluate the new drug’s safety, efficacy and differentiation.

Encouraged by the phase 1 and 2 clinical trial data for LY2605541, Lilly hopes to present phase 3 data and gain regulatory approval in 2014.

Enrique Conterno (pictured), President of Lilly Diabetes, said: “Boehringer Ingelheim is an important partner in our strategy to provide a broad portfolio of diabetes medicines, and our diabetes alliance remains strong.

“There is no group of patients with whom Lilly has a deeper history than those impacted by diabetes. If approved, this basal insulin analogue will be an important addition to the Lilly portfolio.”

Eli Lilly, the first company to commercialise insulin, has a long history of innovation in diabetes treatment.

Eli Lilly anticipates global revenue of between $22.6 billion and $23.4bn in 2013, despite the loss of exclusivity on Cymbalta in the US and paying royalties on worldwide sales of Byetta.

The company hopes revenue growth will be driven by its drug portfolio, animal health products and sales in Japan and the emerging markets, in particular China.

John C Lechleiter, Chairman, President and CEO, said the company has “made substantial progress in recent years” and he expects “2013 to continue that trend.”

Total operating expenses within the next 12 months are expected to be “flat to slightly decreasing” as Lilly continues to control expenses and improve productivity. It expects to spend between $7.1bn to $7.4bn on marketing, selling and administrative expenses and a further $5.2bn to $5.5bn on research and development.

Lilly expects other income and deductions to be somewhere in the range of $340 million and $490 million of net income in 2013. Operating cash flows of around $900 million will be in place to fund potential business development, pay company dividends and complete its share repurchasing programme.

“We are replenishing and advancing our pipeline, which now has 13 potential new medicines in Phase III testing,” said John C Lechleiter. “We are investing to drive growth in key currently marketed brands and in our counter-cyclical growth areas; and we continue to make productivity gains across our business to fund the R&D necessary to fuel our future growth, recapitalise our physical assets, maintain our dividend and support our share repurchase programme.”

The Indianapolis-based company also predicted it was “on track” to meet medium term financial targets. “From now through 2014, on an annual basis we still expect revenue to be at least $20 billion, net income to be at least $3 billion, and operating cash flow to be at least $4 billion,” said Derica Rice, Lilly Executive Vice President, Global Services and Chief Financial Officer.

Merz Pharma, Eli Lilly and Daiichi-Sankyo have all been found guilty of breaching the ABPI Code of Practice by its regulator the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA).

The PMCPA found Merz Pharma guilty of breaking the Code on two separate occasions and decided that Eli Lilly and Daiichi-Sankyo breached five different clauses when promoting Efient.

In breaching the Code, the PMCPA said, the companies had “brought discredit upon, and reduced confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry.”

All three companies breached Clause 2 of the Code and have been made to issue corrective statements in the BMJ, The Pharmaceutical Journal and The Nursing Standard.

Clauses 2, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 9.1 and 25 of the Code were breached when Merz was found to have made misleading and unsubstantiated claims and for failing to comply with an undertaking by implying that that Bocouture/Xeomin was clinically equivalent to Vistabel/Botox.

Merz was also found to have breached Clause 2, 9.1 and 25 when it failed to comply with an undertaking by implying that Bocouture was clinically equivalent to Botox.

Eli Lilly and Daiichi-Sankyo were reprimanded for promoting Efient in a manner that was misleading and inconsistent with its summary of product characteristics. In doing so the PMCPA decided the pair had breached Clause 2, 3.2, 7.2, 7.9 and 9.1.

Criminal activity in adults with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is greatly reduced by drug treatment, a new study has shown.

A Swedish survey of 25,656 adults with ADHD showed that treatment with drugs such as Ritalin reduced their crime rate by 41% in women and 32% in men.

While two-thirds of hyperactive children suffer from the condition in adult life, access to treatment is often denied to adults.

ADHD is characterised by poor attention span and impulsive behaviour. It affects an estimated 5% of the population and 10% of people in prison.

NICE recommends the first-line use of Novartis’s Ritalin (methylphenidate) to treat ADHD, with Eli Lilly’s Strattera (atomoxetine) or dexamfetamine (formerly branded as Dexedrine) as alternatives.

Drug treatment of hyperactivity is controversial as the syndrome is often linked to familial problems, and the drugs arguably ‘turn down the volume’ without addressing the causes.

However, adults with ADHD are far more likely to face punishment and disadvantage than to receive any form of treatment.

Seena Fazel, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry, said drug treatment reduces criminality in adults with ADHD both by reducing aggression and by improving application to long-term goals.

According to Philip Asherson, Professor of Molecular Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, many adolescents with ADHD cease receiving treatment after age 16 for two reasons:

“One is that the services aren’t there – there aren’t transition services – and the other is that adolescents don’t like taking medication.”

When they try to get help later, he noted, too often “they go to a primary care physician or mental health service that doesn’t fully understand ADHD, so they can’t get back into treatment.”

Eli Lilly has promoted Melissa Barnes to Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Senior Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management after Anne Nobles’ decision to retire.

Mrs Nobles will retire at the end of the year after joining Lilly back in 1990 and has served in a number of senior leadership positions and on the company’s executive committee since 2009.

John Lechleiter, Lilly’s President, Chairman and CEO, thanked Nobles for her service to the company. “Her contributions have been instrumental in building a comprehensive company-wide ethics and compliance program,” he said. “She has worked closely with Lilly business leaders to ensure that compliance is effectively integrated into our business plans and our day-to-day activities.”

Mrs Barnes, the existing Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, is currently responsible for litigation, compliance and specialty legal areas, including regulatory and HR.

“Melissa’s legal background and extensive experience at Lilly make her the right person to assume this important role within our company,” said Lechleiter.