Products

U.S. State and Federal Efforts

Eli Lilly and Company produces medicines to meet patients' health care needs. We believe that it is critical for patients to have access to our products, which save and improve lives. Access to medicines is a function not only of price but of health care coverage, particularly in the United States. For this reason, Lilly strongly supports adding drug coverage to the U.S. Medicare program as well as finding ways to increase the availability of affordable health insurance for all people.

Lilly recognizes the importance of containing overall rising health care costs triggered by aging populations and increased public expectations of the health care industry, both for government-sponsored programs that need to meet budgetary restrictions and/or reduce budget deficits and for businesses operating in an increasingly competitive environment. We believe that innovative pharmaceuticals are part of the solution to - not the cause of - this problem. Efforts to reduce drug access and prescribing are not effective and ultimately hurt patients. Simply put, they increase costs and shift them to other components of the health care system. Pharmaceuticals, when properly integrated with other methods of treatment, lead to lower overall health care costs.

The research-based pharmaceutical industry is uniquely qualified to discover, develop and make lifesaving innovative medicines available to patients who need them. Measures to artificially control industry growth and drug prices are counterproductive to that effort. Government-mandated restrictions reduce the return on investment needed by pharmaceutical firms to engage in the costly research and development of new cost-effective products. The competitive market forces that exist in the pharmaceutical industry are the best insurance against excessive drug prices and a key driver of continued discovery and development of innovative drugs that help patients. We believe that integrated, private-sector coverage for drugs is the best way to ensure access by all patients to the miracles of modern medicines.

Federal Initiatives:

Intellectual Property
Importation

State Initiatives:

Commun-I-Care
Colorado Medicaid
State-Sponsored Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs

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Intellectual Property

Lilly supports strong and effective intellectual property rights, including patent protection for pharmaceutical products. The pharmaceutical industry is dependent upon this protection, which grants the inventor of a new product an exclusive, yet limited, period in which to develop and market the product. Lack of strong intellectual property rights would have a chilling effect on the industry's ability to bring new lifesaving drugs to patients worldwide.

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Importation

Lilly strongly opposes the importation/re-importation of prescription drugs. Allowing the importation of drugs is really about importing foreign price controls into the United States. The result would be devastating to the research-based pharmaceutical industry as revenues available for R&D would be diminished significantly.

There is no guarantee that drugs that have been shipped to foreign countries, which have their own storage requirements, and returned to the U.S. for resale are unadulterated. These drugs may have been improperly stored, handled and/or shipped. Prohibitions against importation are designed to ensure that adulterated, counterfeit and unapproved drugs do not enter the U.S. The FDA repeatedly has stated that no matter what safeguards are added, it cannot ensure the safety of imported drugs. Problems that arise from use of imported drugs undermine public confidence in the U.S. drug supply.

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Individual State Initiatives

Commun-I-Care

Commun-I-Care is a program in South Carolina that provides free health care for people who do not have insurance and cannot afford health care. Physicians and nurse practitioners volunteer to see patients in their offices at no charge and pharmaceutical companies provide their products. Commun-I-Care networks these resources, becoming a single source for helping qualified patients get the care they need. Lilly provides free medicine through the program.

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Colorado Medicaid

Lilly has entered into a public-private partnership to implement a pilot program that would meet the needs of Medicaid patients and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance (HCPF). Specific goals of the program are to improve patient care, allow patients unrestricted access to treatment and services and decrease overall Medicaid health care costs.

Lilly will fund two components of an 18-month disease-management demonstration project being launched by HCPF. The company's efforts will focus on the management of Medicaid patients with diabetes and Medicaid patients suffering from both schizophrenia and additional medical conditions.

Colorado is experimenting with Medicaid disease management on a small scale, with an eye toward fine-tuning the program, determining the impact on patients' health and the realistic level of savings that might be expected. This demonstration project takes into account the needs of people with more than one disease and incorporates mechanisms to allow patients, along with their doctors, to learn to manage each of their diseases.

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State-Sponsored Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs

Many states have instituted programs that provide prescription drug coverage or assist low-income elderly residents and others in obtaining the medicines they need. While these programs are not a substitute for a Medicare drug benefit, Lilly applauds states' efforts to provide prescription drug coverage that provides access and patient protections. Lilly voluntarily provides discounts to state-sponsored programs that provide prescription drug coverage.

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Following are links to state-sponsored pharmaceutical assistance programs.

Connecticut -Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract to the Elderly and Disabled (ConnPACE)

Delaware - Nemours Pharmacy Assistance

Delaware -Prescription Assistance Program (DPAP)

Florida - Pharmaceutical Expense Assistance Program for Seniors

Illinois - Illinois SenioRx Care

Indiana - Prescription Drug Fund - HoosierRx

Iowa - Iowa Priority Prescription Savings Program

Kansas -Kansas Senior Pharmacy Assistance Program

Maine - Healthy Maine Prescription Drug Program

Maryland - Pharmacy Assistance Program, Short-Term Prescription Drug Subsidy Plan, Maryland Pharmacy Discount Program