Eli Lilly and Company Shares Rise on Optimism for Alzheimer's Drug

Eli Lilly & Co. rose to a one-month high after an analyst said success of the company’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug could double the share price. Lilly, based in Indianapolis, gained 3.9 percent to $38.86 at 4 p.m. New York time. Expectations have been “extraordinarily low” for the success of Alzheimer’s drugs, so a Lilly success with solanezumab could boost the shares 50 to 100 percent, Tim Anderson, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, said in a note. “Eli Lilly and several of its competitors are willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on what is essentially a massive lottery ticket,” Anderson said. “If their drugs are successful in delaying the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, they could end up making Lipitor look like a mid-sized product,” he said in a note to clients sent yesterday. Sales of solanezumab could reach $9 billion by 2020, he said.

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