Derica W. Rice
Analyst · Barclays
Thanks, Ilissa. As I've have done in the past, I'll start with the progress update on key events we've highlighted for 2012. The green check marks show what we've achieved so far this year, including regulatory approval of Amyvid and of new indications or line extensions for Trajenta and Erbitux, as well as important data disclosures for Alimta, dulaglutide, ixekizumab and our novel basal insulin analog. In the remainder of 2012, we anticipate an FDA decision on Alimta as continuation maintenance therapy for patients with non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer. We also could begin Phase III trials for evacetrapib, our CETP inhibitor, as well as for baricitinib, our oral JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor for rheumatoid arthritis in partnership with Incyte. In addition, we expect to compete and disclose data from a number of important Phase III trials, including the EXPEDITION studies with solanezumab for Alzheimer's disease; the TRILOGY study with Effient and ACS medically managed patients; and the POINTBREAK study with Alimta, a non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer. We will also complete a number of the Phase III trials for dulaglutide, and in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, for empagliflozin. We expect to disclose results from some of these trials at the ADA in 2013. And we plan to disclose 24-week data from the Phase IIb trial of baricitinib at a medical meeting later this year. As outlined in our press release, we've updated our 2012 financial guidance. This update takes into account the impact of weaker foreign currencies, strong sales performance for Cymbalta, Cialis Evista, Forteo, Alimta and Elanco and the expectation that OUS [ph] Rights for exenatide transfer in 2013 and not in 2012. Our guidance does not assume accelerated repayment of Amylin's revenue-sharing obligation. In terms of the individual line items, we still project revenue to be between $21.8 billion and $22.8 billion. Gross margin as a percent of revenue is now projected to be approximately 78%. Marketing, selling and administrative expenses are now forecast to be between $7.3 billion and $7.7 billion. R&D expenses are still expected to be between $5 billion and $5.3 billion. OID is now expected to be in the range of a net deduction of $75 million to a net income of $50 million. The tax rate is still expected to be approximately 21%. This assumes the R&D tax credit is passed before year end and is made retroactive to January 1. We believe it is likely that this will occur in the fourth quarter and will result in a meaningful EPS benefit in Q4 as our Q4 tax rate will be significantly lower than in Q3 or the first half of the year. Driven primarily by stronger underlying sales performance that offsets the negative effect of FX, as well as by the positive effect of FX on cost of goods sold, EPS is now expected to be in the range of $3.30 to $3.40 per share. Finally, we still expect capital expenditures to be roughly $800 million. Now slide 16 provides a reconciliation between reported and non-GAAP EPS for 2011, and the associated growth rates from these numbers to our 2012 guidance. Now looking beyond 2012, we've built a solid foundation to bridge this period of patent expirations and return to sustainable growth post 2014. Since 2009, we provided you with our minimum financial performance goals through 2014 and mile markers to track our progress. We said we expect annual revenue to be at least $20 billion, net income to be at least $3 billion and operating cash flow to be at least $4 billion. We continue to hold these goals. This will position us to fund the R&D that will drive our future growth, recapitalize our physical assets and engage in opportunistic business development, while paying the dividend at least at its current level. Now we said that at our top priority was to replenish and advance our pipeline and that we expected to have at least 10 assets in Phase III testing by the end of 2011. As you know, we finished last year with 12 assets in Phase III, including 4 in diabetes, 3 in oncology, 3 in neuroscience and 2 in autoimmune. We also have more than 20 assets in Phase II testing and expect to maintain a robust Phase III portfolio, which gives us the confidence that we can deliver a more sustainable flow of innovative medicines than in the recent past. As I mentioned, in the coming months we could begin Phase III testing for evacetrapib and baricitinib, both of which have generated very encouraging Phase II data. We also said that we would invest to drive growth in Japan, emerging markets and Elanco, as well as in brands not losing patent protection during this period, brands like Alimta, Cialis, Forteo and our insulins. We've continued to deliver strong growth in these areas. Collectively, Japan, emerging markets and Elanco grew over 11% in Q2, which was nearly 14% excluding FX, and now represent 30% of our total corporate revenue, up from 24% in Q2 of last year. In total, Alimta, Cialis, Forteo and our insulins grew 5% in Q2 or 8% excluding FX. Finally, we said that we would improve productivity across our business, reducing our cost structure to help fund R&D. We exceeded our goals of reducing our projected 2011 costs by $1 billion and reducing our headcount by 5,500, excluding strategic additions. We've put in place the fundamental building blocks necessary to overcome our patent expirations and return to growth. Now today I'd like to discuss for the first time at a high level our outlook for our financial performance in years beyond 2014. Hopefully, this will provide you with insight into how we view our prospects and how we intend to manage our business. At the highest level, we anticipate a return to revenue and income growth post 2014, fueled in large part by our pipeline. This growth, combined with leveraging our existing infrastructure and managing cost, should lead to expanding margins. More specifically, post 2014, we expect to return to levels of R&D spend as a percent of revenue that are more consistent with our historical averages, in the 18% to 20% range. Just as we don't intend to reduce our investment in R&D due to temporary reductions of revenue from patent expirations, we will not increase our investment in R&D at the same pace as revenue as we return to growth post 2014. We believe this will be sufficient to support our innovation-based strategy. For SG&A, it's reasonable to expect that within a few years post 2014, we'll move more in line with the industry averages, in the range of 28% to 30% of revenue. We've made important investments in commercial infrastructure that we intend to leverage in the coming years. For example, we've expanded the commercial footprint of our diabetes business. With the anticipated launch of some or all of our 4 Phase III diabetes molecules, we'll be able to leverage this investment to expand margins. We've made similar infrastructure investments in Japan, China and Elanco that we also expect to leverage to drive future revenue growth and expand margins. Now this expected expansion will be helped by anticipated revenue growth. However, I want to emphasize that expense management will play a significant role and that we aren't waiting until 2014 or 2015 to take action. As we've discussed in the past, in our manufacturing operations, we're in the midst of implementing a process technology agenda to standardize along common platforms for insulins and devices. By 2017, and without building a new manufacturing plant, we expect to double capacity to meet projected demands of our entire range of insulins while reducing capital requirements, reducing unit cost and improving insulin gross margin by several percentage points. On the commercial side of our business, we're taking steps in Europe to respond to difficult market conditions for branded pharmaceuticals to better position Lilly to successfully market our future product portfolio and to optimize future profitability across the continent. While Europe will continue to be an important market for Lilly, we expect it to decline in value, driven by the difficult macroeconomic environment, faster generic erosion than in the past and excessive hurdles for reimbursement and access of new products. In the coming years, we also expect our product portfolio to become more focused on specialty care products than on primary care products. To respond to this external environment and to our evolving portfolio, we're streamlining certain European operations. Specifically, we're simplifying the organization from 12 to 5 geographic hubs, giving us critical mass and delivering efficiencies across markets. In addition, we'll organize marketing, medical and other commercial support functions into Pan-European therapeutic communities. These changes will create a more focused organization, one able to respond effectively to customer needs. We anticipate that these changes will deliver substantial savings in the coming years. Now to sum up, we continue to execute the plan we first outlined for you in December of 2009. We've been hitting many of our mileposts and remaining on track to meet or exceed our financial targets, and we're approaching these next 2 years with the same diligence, focus and commitment as the past 2 years. When we prepared for the Zyprexa patent expiration, we took actions early to position Lilly to overcome the challenge posed by the loss of revenue and income just when we needed to fund our maturing pipeline. We're now applying the same disciplined approach as we prepare for the Cymbalta patent expiration in the U.S. at the end of 2013, and for our return to growth and expanding margins post 2014. With more than 30 assets in Phase II and Phase III, we have tremendous opportunities ahead of us, and we're determined to make the most of them. In closing, I want to again recognize my Lilly colleagues for their resolve in facing head on the challenge of the Zyprexa patent expiration. They've continued to deliver solid financial results in those areas of our business not affected by patent expirations and have been diligently executing our strategy to replenish and advance our pipeline, to drive growth in our on-patent brands and in Elanco, Japan and emerging markets, and to drive productivity gains across all areas of our business. The progress that we've made to date positions us to meet or exceed our midterm financial minimum goals and has given our management team and board the confidence to resume our share repurchase program. As I outlined, we expect the margin compression caused by our patent expirations to be temporary. Post 2014, we anticipate revenue growth and expense management to expand margins. We remain committed to our innovation-based strategy, and we believe it is the best strategy to create value for shareholders. Over the next 18 months, we'll generate a significant amount of clinical data that will help you better gauge our longer-term growth potential. We'll keep you updated on our progress. This concludes our prepared remarks, and now we'll take your questions. Operator, first caller, please.