Pharma Roundup: Lilly's Zyprexa Settlement; Cuts at Pfizer, Roche; and More

(MoneyWatch)  Lilly pays $1.4 billion to settle Zyprexa claims -- Today's big story is the exorbitant sum Lilly must pay for its sales reps' off-label promotion of Zyprexa as an Alzheimer's therapy -- supposedly a record sum. The company will be officially monitored for 5 years. BNET's Jim Edwards has the full story on the ruling's impact on Lilly's bottom line: 12 percent of revenue, among other things. [Source: In the Pipeline]

Pfizer management may terminate 2,400 sales reps -- Bloomberg reports that the Biggest Pharma is considering the elimination of one third of its sales force. The company neither confirmed nor denied the rumor. [Source: WSJ Health Blog]

Roche cuts 780 -- The Wall Street Journal reports that Roche will excise 780 production positions within the next two to three years. [Source: PharmaGossip]

Novartis CEO's take on industry -- In comments at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, outgoing Novartis pharma CEO Thomas Ebeling gave his barometer reading of the pharma industry. Among other points, he discussed the unwillingness of Big Pharma to face bad news; the "holding company" business model he believes will soon dominate pharma; and the belief that talented R&D execs are more valuable than most companies realize. [Source: In Vivo]