Eli Lilly tops prominent rankings on pharma R&D performance

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Here’s one more sign of Eli Lilly’s dominance in the drug industry: It took both top spots in a prominent ranking of pharmaceutical innovators and investors.

The index, produced by U.K.-based IDEA Pharma, ranks drug company laboratories on two different sets of criteria: innovation, which takes into account revenue from new products, new drug approvals, and major drug development events; and invention, which looks at the number of drugs a company has in development, its clinical trials, and its R&D investment, among other factors. IDEA is part of SAI MedPartners, a larger consultancy. 

This is the first time that one company — in this case, Lilly — has ranked No. 1 in both categories.