Statement from Eli Lilly and Company: Response to Today's New York Times Article, 'Lilly E-Mail Discussed Off-Label...( INDIANAPOLIS March 14 /- Eli Lill...),Health

INDIANAPOLIS, March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today called the assertions in a New York Times online article 'flat out wrong.' The Times report in question focused on the State of Alaska v. Eli Lilly and Company trial that is underway and attempted to interpret a 2003 email from John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D., currently Lilly's president and chief operating officer. About this email and the Times report, the company makes the following statement:

-- The Times article not only mischaracterized Dr. Lechleiter's email,

which the court deemed inadmissible, but significantly minimized

Lilly's perspective on this topic, resulting in a very skewed and

inaccurate article.

-- At the time of the email referenced (2003), Dr. Lechleiter was the

company's vice president of pharmaceutical products and corporate

development, overseeing the area of the company that is responsible for

developing new products and conducting late-stage clinical programs to

address the most pressing medical questions and also to ensure Lilly

made successful regulatory submissions. Importantly, he did not

oversee or direct promotional or marketing activities.

-- Additionally, in 2003, no atypical antipsychotic treatments were

approved by the FDA for children or adolescents suffering from

schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; yet physicians, desperate to

improve their young patients' lives, were already prescribing these

medicines, albeit, with limited information on their safety, efficacy

or dosing considerations in these special patient populations. Dr.

Lechleiter had just returned from a
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