FT
Eli Lilly shares are sinking fast on Monday.
The stock of the US drugmaker is down almost 10 per cent in pre-market trading after the company said it would abandon a late stage trial of a medicine aimed at treating heart disease.
Lilly said it made the decision on the basis of advice from an independent data monitoring committee, which judged that the drug, known as evacetrapib, lacked efficacy.
As a result, Lilly will take a charge of up to $90m, or about 5 cents a share, in its fourth-quarter results.
Derica Rice, Lilly's chief financial officer, said:
This unfortunate outcome for evacetrapib does not change our ability to generate long-term growth.
Lilly's shares were down $7.89, or 9.2 per cent, at pixel time. They are up 25 per cent this year.
