Potential Blockbuster Sparks Lilly Stock
A strong performance by a potential Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) blockbuster has the company’s stock at a multi-year high. Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. say diabetes treatment Jardiance significantly reduced the risks of major cardiovascular issues or death in a clinical trial. Lilly’s stock price topped $90 Thursday for the first time since 2000.
The reduction involved patients with type 2 diabetes at high risk of cardiovascular events.
Lead investigator of the trial Bernard Zinman said "these results are both novel and exciting for the millions of people living with type 2 diabetes at risk for cardiovascular disease. Addressing the burden of cardiovascular events, including death, is at the core of diabetes care, and until now no single diabetes medication has been associated with a reduction in mortality." He continued, "in this study, empagliflozin was shown to prevent one out of three cardiovascular deaths."
The data were presented Thursday at the 51st European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting in Sweden and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.