"We intend to be a leader in the Asia Pacific region"

-Alfonso "Chito" Zulueta, president, Asian operations, Eli Lilly and Company

The global incidence of diabetes continues to increase especially in the developing world. It is predicted by the International Diabetes Federation that diabetes will affect more than 380 million people throughout the world by 2025. With that in mind, Asia is the fastest growing region in the world with regard to diabetes prevalence (see IDF Diabetes Atlas). By 2020, close to half of the world's diabetes population will come from Asia, with five out of the largest six countries affected by diabetes being China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. As a leader in diabetes, Lilly is committed to providing both therapeutic and non-therapeutic solutions for the treatment of diabetes in these countries and throughout the world. Alfonso Zulueta, president, Asian operations, Eli Lilly and Company, tells BioSpectrum the views of his company in diabetes treatment.

How large is Asia Pacific diabetes business for Lilly?

While at this time it is not a large proportion of our total diabetes business, Asia is amongst the fastest growing regions and an increasing portion of Lilly's global diabetes business. Lilly is clearly aware of the needs of those with diabetes in the region and we are committed to meeting them. India and China lead the world in diabetes prevalence, so meeting this huge need is critical for patients.

Can you elaborate on your focus in the APAC markets and about revenues from the diabetes business stream?

Lilly recognizes the importance of providing patients in the region with solutions. As part of our global strategy, we have made significant investments in the past years in areas ranging from new product registrations to efforts related to diabetes awareness, education, treatment, and clinical research activity. For example, during the past two years in China, we have more than tripled the size of our diabetes sales staff and increased substantially our promotional investment, resulting in Lilly gaining significant market share. In addition, we have on-going collaborations with medical organizations and NGOs to improve the diagnosis and treatment rates of diabetes in China, India and other parts of Asia.

What are the major challenges that your company faces in the Asia Pacific region?

For Lilly, and the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, intellectual property protection, regulatory approvals and pricing can be unpredictable. However these areas are slowly improving and we hope to continue working with the various countries in the region to continue this progress. For example, we are very confident that the Chinese and Indian governments are committed to providing meaningful intellectual property protection and look forward to working together on these important issues.

How is Eli Lilly faring globally and in APAC region in this portfolio?

Lilly has a strong history in the treatment of diabetes globally and we plan to continue this presence by providing the right solutions, both therapeutic and non-therapeutic, to meet the needs of patients. This includes making the right investments in the region to ensure that we compete effectively. We're competing strongly today and are poised to meet the needs of patients as the region continues to grow and expand.

What are the latest developments at Eli Lilly aimed at reducing diabetes burden?

Recently, we announced two major partnerships within the Asia Pacific region that we believe will be very helpful in raising awareness of diabetes and its treatment. The first is a partnership with Project HOPE, an international health education and humanitarian assistance organization. Serving as one of the corporate partners, we announced the implementation of the India Diabetes Educator Project, which is the first-large scale initiative to train and educate health-care professionals in India about the disease. We have co-sponsored similar efforts with Project HOPE in China since the late 1990s that have resulted in the development of 10 diabetes training centers where more than 1000 physicians and 500 non-physician health care professionals received training. In October 2007, we also announced a new partnership with the Chinese Diabetes Society and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. Supported with a €1.8 million grant by Lilly, this partnership aims to promote collaborative research efforts between Europe and China, including the support of young Chinese researchers to investigate in the field of diabetes.

From a therapeutic perspective, we recently launched Byetta (Exenatide) in India and the Philippines and have plans to launch it in from the rest of the region as well in the next few years. This novel treatment is designed to improve blood sugar control with the added benefit of weight loss for patients with Type 2 diabetes in combination with metformin and/or sulphonylureas, two common oral diabetes medications.

How has Eli Lilly fought competition from other global companies that have now entered India?

With opportunity comes competition, but Eli Lilly has been a leader in the treatment of diabetes since we first commercialized insulin in the 1920s and we intend to be a leader in the Asia Pacific region by continuing to offer a best in class portfolio of diabetes products for patients, by providing outstanding support and service to our customers.

How is Byetta doing in the Indian market?

We are still within the first quarter of the Byetta (Exenatide) launch in India and we wold say that it has been a fairly successful launch given the early information we have. To build on this momentum, we will continue to excel on what we do best, i.e. provide scientific, ethical communication about the benefits of this novel, first-in-class therapy and how it can be beneficial to patients in the management of diabetes.

Jahanara Parveen