Eli Lilly CEO says U.S. drugmakers' biggest challenge is sustaining innovation

USA Today/Indianapolis Star: Drugmakers are facing an array of challenges, like lawsuits and patent losses, but also new opportunities including global growth and an expected surge in the number of U.S. residents with health insurance. Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter comments in a Q&A: "The biggest challenge facing the industry is to be able to sustain the flow of innovative medicines from our pipelines that can effectively compete against the generic versions of our own products" (Chu, 7/21).

Government Executive: In other news, a "group representing independent pharmacy owners, managers and employees is urging the Office of Personnel Management to take a number of steps to ensure federal workers get the best deal on prescription drugs. The National Community Pharmacists Association, which represents more than 22,000 independent community pharmacies nationwide, this week sent OPM a letter urging increased oversight of pharmacy benefit managers, the companies that administer prescription drug programs under various health plans" (Newell, 7/20).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.