Eli Lilly saw global revenue fall by 4% in the first quarter of 2012 after sales of its atypical antipsychotic drug Zyprexa decreased by more than half due to generic exposure.

Revenues totalled $5.6 billion as sales increased by 41% in China but flat lined in the US and decreased outside America by 9% after Zyprexa lost exclusivity in all major markets bar Japan.

John C. Lechleiter, Lilly’s Chairman, President and CEO, says the Q1 figures represent a “solid start” to the year and despite the Zyprexa losses “demonstrated strong underlying growth in other products and key regions”.

Lilly expects to lose in the region of more than $3bn in Zyprexa sales but still record revenue this year between $21.8bn and 22.8bn.

It hopes the reduction in revenue generated by Zyprexa will be offset by growth in other key brands such as Cymbalta, Humalog, Humulin and newer products including Effient and Axiron.

In the first three months of the year, Cymbalta generated sales of $1.1 billion, an increase of 23% on the same period in 2011. Alimta sales were up 5% to $606.8m, Humalog generated $590.3m and revenue for Cialis, Humulin, Forteo, Strattera and Effient also increased.

But it was the 56% loss of sales on Zyprexa which saw global revenue fall as the former blockbuster totalled $562.7m in Q1. Sales of Evista also dropped 4% to $256.2m in the quarter.

The Indianapolis-based company’s total operating expenses increased by 3% compared with the 2011 Q1 after it continued its R&D-based strategy.

“We strongly believe that our innovation-based strategy will enable Lilly to return to steady growth following a period of multiple patent expirations,” said John C. Lechleiter.

Eli Lilly has launched a new global innovation initiative to help increase the speed of delivery of new medicines to patients.

Innovation Starts Here will see scientists from the Lilly Research Awards Program and the Lilly Innovation Fellowship Awards collaborate with researchers to aid the advancement of its pipeline.

Dr Jan Lundberg, Executive Vice President, Science and Technology, and President, Lilly Research Laboratories, says the initiative is “contributing to a global collaborative culture for idea generation and innovation”.

Lilly’s new innovation awards scheme will foster post-doctoral career development through specifically selected research proposals. The programme has been created to broaden the company’s scientists’ training experience in preparation for a range of future careers.

The research awards programme aims to bring together specialists in an effort to further advance research in important therapeutic areas such as neuroscience, cancer, diabetes, immune system disorders and others. The scheme was established towards the end of 2011 to complement collaborations between Lilly scientists and global external academics.

“Collaboration is a key component to discovering innovative medicines and improving outcomes for patients,” said Dr Lundberg. “Finding innovative medicines that have clear, demonstrable value for those diseases where the unmet need is great – like diabetes and Alzheimer's disease – is not only a scientific imperative, it’s an economic one as well.”

Lilly hopes the important programmes will also further its own R&D in Europe, as well as the US.

Last year, the company’s global investments in R&D totalled more than $5 billion. It has also doubled its R&D investments in Europe over the past decade. Recent initiatives in Europe include multiple clinical trials, involvement in the Innovative Medicines Initiative, the creation of Cognitive Neuroscience and plans to open a new building at its Erl Wood Research Centre in the UK.