Pet Medicine is Less Regulated than Human Medicine

     In reference to the Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) acquisition of Novartis Animal Health, I have come across an important fact that I did not have when I wrote the last post.  The Novartis business segment purchased only contains roughly 50% that is food related.  The other half falls under the category: "companion animal"--such as medicine for pets.

This knowledge in no way detracts from the point I was trying to make--which was that a shift in capital away from human health, and into alternative, animal health related markets is a positive move.

Rituparna Basu, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute, explains in her article, Why My Dog's Health Insurance is Cheaper than My Own:

"...veterinary medicine in general is freer, which contributes to why the same treatment costs far less when performed on a pet than on a person..."

Eli Lilly should realize more profit from doing business, in both the food and pet markets, than those companies that are still stuck trying to tangle with the FDA and Obamacare.  However, considering the large magnitude of Lilly's current R&D, no one invested in the company should give up the fight for Capitalist Medicine--so that the business can have the hope of prospering in all markets.

Paul Wharton
Objectivist Capitalist Medicine Promoter

Special thanks to Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) for being the fuel of my mind

Food is Less Regulated than Medicine

     In big business news, Eli Lilly (LLY) has purchased the entire animal health segment of the Swiss multinational company, Novartis (NVS).

Lilly plans to merge the acquisition to its highly profitable Elanco business, which has a 60 year history.  "Elanco" derives from Eli Lilly ANd CO.

The integration of the two segments will create the second largest animal health business in the world, under Eli Lilly's control, with all of the streamlining advantages of size and resulting efficiency.

I have been analyzing this move, and believe that a large shift of capital from human medicine to food, and its production, is a smart decision for the following reasons:

(1) Obamacare is proving more stubborn than many expected.  I still predict that it will collapse.  However, the real danger is that it will settle into some kind of compromise that leaves American medicine much more regulated than it was at pre-ACA levels.

(2) Medicine is "needed" more than food in America.  This makes the takeover of the medical industry a more sympathetic issue to a lot of people.

(3) Massive government control over food production in this country lacks such a mandate--creating an inherently safer market to do business in.

(4) In light of Obama's across the board damage to the American economy, investors may want to know that Lilly's acquired Novartis animal health segment includes business that is 70% outside of the United States.

Eli Lilly still continues to remain a vibrant, human pharmaceutical company.  However, I agree with the expansion into food production and other animal products--as waiting around for the FDA to "approve" the legal purchase of medicine, while it blocks productive activity, is not a path to profitability.

One final note: If America can shake Obamacare, and reverse the Government Health Care slide, Eli Lilly (LLY), with the huge, pharmaceutical pipeline surge it has been investing in, should be in a much more advanced position to bring numerous, tested drugs to market than competitors that have been cutting their R&D budgets.

Paul Wharton
Objectivist Capitalist Medicine Promoter

Special thanks to Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) for being the fuel of my mind

Book Critique: The Antidote

     Of all the medicine related books I have read that were advertised in the Ayn Rand catalogs, The Billion-Dollar Molecule is my favorite.  Author Barry Werth returns 20 years later with his sequel, The Antidote: Inside the World of New Pharma.

Both books focus on the interworkings of Vertex Pharmaceuticals--a science based drug design start-up in the first book, and a publicly traded, stock market success story in the second.

Vertex was created by scientific and business genius, Joshua Boger as a novel approach to bringing medicines to market.  Former executive Matthew Emmens commented, "When you think of this industry, of all the successes there are, it's mostly opportunism, either scientifically or from a commercial sense.  Very little of it can be planned.  Every time we've tried to plan--say, 'I'm gonna be the best at lipid-lowering agents, or I'm gonna be the best at hypertension, or something else'--it's never worked."(p. 316)

The company's first product launches were two drugs to fight AIDS.  As the years progressed, Vertex became a leader in treating hepatitis C and cystic fibrosis.  Medicine for cystic fibrosis (a genetic based disorder that inhibits the respiratory system) is especially of interest to me--as some of the members of my family are carriers of those genes.

Werth's first book is an excellent read, but The Antidote not only maintains a similar quality, it also has the advantage of being pharmaceutically up to date with a 2014 copyright.

Paul Wharton
Objectivist Capitalist Medicine Promoter

Special thanks to Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) for being the fuel of my mind

Unjust Jury Fines Eli Lilly $3,000,000,000.00

     Americans have gotten so used to hearing that government is spending millions here, billions there, and over a trillion each year that a number doesn't seem like it means much anymore.

Well, in an adverse health risk case, a jury has decided to pull a number out of a hat and smack Eli Lilly with a 3 billion dollar fine.  Do these jurors even know how much money that is, or how much work is required to produce it?  That's 3,000,000,000.00 dollars!

It is the middle of the night; and Eli Lilly has yet to respond.  But, Takeda Pharmaceuticals that was hit with a 6,000,000,000.00 dollar fine at the same time issued a press release that it disagrees with the unjust ruling and intends to fight it judicially.  Let's hope for the sake of American justice that this financial nihilism is struck down.

Paul Wharton
Objectivist Capitalist Medicine Promoter

Special thanks to Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) for being the fuel of my mind