Eli Lilly and Company plans to cut 485 sales positions across its operations in the US, including its US Bio-Medicines Business Unit located in Indianapolis, Indiana, as the result of a failed late-stage clinical trial for its Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate, solanezemab. The company had staffed the sales force in anticipation of an approval for the drug.

In November 2016, Lilly announced that it will no longer pursue regulatory submissions for solanezumab for treating mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease because the drug failed to meet the primary endpoint of a Phase III clinical trial. The company stated that patients treated with solanezumab did not experience a statistically significant slowing in cognitive decline compared to patients treated with placebo.

Solanezumab would have been an addition to Lilly’s neuroscience business segment, which has had declining revenues due to generic competition for certain products. In 2015, the neuroscience business segment had $2.935 billion in sales, an 18% decline from $3.597 billion sales in 2014 and 59% drop from $7.216 billion in 2013 sales.

Source: Eli Lilly and Company