Lilly & Boehringer: When You Gotta Partner, You Gotta Partner

Lilly's co-promotion with Boehringer Ingelheim of duloxetine is the first time the American company has signed a major marketing deal for one of its own products. The company notes the collaboration is part of its broad commitment to partnering and that the market is intensely competitive. But the choice of duloxetine--the launch of which may be delayed indefinitely because of manufacturing problems--also represents Lilly's lowest-risk option for subsidizing the launches, and maximizing the returns from, potentially eight new products over the next few years.