Pfizers Exubera bombs and boosts Lilly prospects, but Prasrugel uncertainty sees Lilly have biggest one day fall for 4 years

Eli Lilly stockholders, Directors amd employees would relish a boner without using longer lasting Cialis, on the news last week that Pfizer have junked their inhaled insuling delivery system Exubera (2007 sales US$12 Mn against projected US$2 Bn.) and taken a US$2.8 Bn. hit on the Balance sheet.Ouch!!!! They will return the rights for marketing to Nektar.See post March 28th Pfizer's Exubera inhaled insulin another dog for Pfizer

Today Pfizer announced 60 jobs to go during 2008 of the 3000 at Portage their largest pharmaceutical manufacturing operation in North America related to this decision.

San Carlos based Nektar Therapeutics Inc.,(NASDAQ: NKTR) who developed the product have announced today they are looking for a new partner.

Of all Nektar's total revenue of US$150.9 million through Q1 and Q2Pfizer was responsible for US$108Mn leaving a loss of US$53 Mn.for the 2 Qtrs.

Lilly have however seen their share price take a dive as uncertainty prevails over the expected announcement on November 4th about a heart pill, Prasrugel, it has licensed from Daiichi Sankyo. Set to challenge Plavix ( US$6 Bn. annual sales) marketed by Sanofi-Aventis (nyse: SNY ) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (nyse: BMY ), prevents the blood from clotting. Blood clots that form in the arteries around gunked-up plaque are the major cause of heart attacks and strokes.

The results of a Harvard medical School study of 14,000-patient study will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando which it is hoped (and intended) will impress the FDA.

Prasrugel is theoretically superior to Plavix because it is said to work on the thrid of pateinets that don't respond to Plavix due to them being genetically determined to be unable to metabolise Plavix into it's active constituent.

However on Wednesday night (after the market closed) Lilly issued a press release under pressure from the Wall Street Journal saying it had stopped giving patients medicine in two small studies while it considers adjusting the dose - "after data raised concerns about the dosage used in certain patient groups. " Lilly provided little information but studies are generally suspended because of side effects and other problems.

A consequence has been that the spin meisters of Wall Street have fluttered their feathers and Oppenheimer and Morgan Stanley downgraded Eli Lilly shares,Goldman Sachs kept its "buy" rating but took Lilly off a list of preferred stocks. An analysts at Deutsche Bank has consulted the chicken entrails end believes that prasugrel is excreted through the kidneys which may lead to bleeding in patients with kidney problems.(Deutsche owns at least one percent of LLY shares, makes a market in the stock and has done and wants to do more investment banking for the company).

Lilly closed Thursday down 7.7% at US452.43 its worst one-day loss in 4 years the biggest one-day fall since Oct. 23, 2002--almost five years to the day.