Lilly hails year of growth in 2010

Lilly has hailed its "solid financial performance" in 2010 after posting a year-on-year improvement in sales during the 12 months.

The company generated a reported revenue total of $23.08 billion (14.55 billion pounds) during the year, up by six percent on 2009, while income and earnings per share also saw increases.

During the period, Lilly saw double-digit percentage sales improvements for treatments such as Cymbalta and Alimta, while agreeing and completing the takeover of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals.

It also signed a major new collaborative deal with Boehringer Ingelheim, under which the companies will jointly develop a series of diabetes treatments.

Dr John Lechleiter, Lilly's chairman and chief executive officer, said: "We remain committed to our strategy of accelerating the flow of potential new medicines through our pipeline and are prepared to meet the challenges of patent expirations for several of our products."

Earlier this month, the firm announced the resignation of its oncology division president John Johnson, with a replacement set to be named in the coming weeks.