1. “By Learning From Failures, Lilly Keeps Drug Pipeline Full” Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2004

2. Eli Lilly & Co. Creates new drugs for a variety of diseases. One of the top companies in drug research. Rose from $10 billion in 1999 to $12.58 billion in 2003. Located in Indianapolis, IN. 38, 290 employees in more than 50 countries.

3. Article The article is about how Eli Lilly & Co. has had major successes in the drug industry by taking their failed drugs and applying them to other conditions. For example, the experimental chemotheraphy drug Almita killed the first 3 patients and was almost written off until Dr. Nyikiza found that a simple solution would allow for the drug to be safe for the use of mesothelioma. Which is a rare type of cancer caused by the exposure of asbestos.

4. Eli Lilly Stands apart from its competitors because they encourage their scientists to take risks and accept that failure will happen. Experimental drugs have a 90% failure rate and Eli Lilly takes an approach of using these failed drugs to look for a cure for a different condition.

5. Continued Lilly has taken this approach to unusual lengths. It assigns someone -- often a team of doctors and scientists -- to retrospectively analyze every compound that has failed at any point in human clinical trials. Blair Sheppard, a management professor at Duke University who's done consulting work for Lilly and other pharmaceutical companies, says that Lilly developed "a formalized and thoughtful process in which it reviewed failures more honestly, more deeply and started the process sooner than anyone else."

6. Conclusion Eli Lilly and Co. has attained much of their success by accepting failure and looking for other uses for that drug. It has utilized scientists and researchers to work together to find solutions. The company has adopted an approach to take risks and not fear the idea of failure. This has led to a company that is a leader in new drugs and drug research.