Eli Lilly's Corona Leap Forward

Eli Lilly (LLY) is one of the major biotechnology companies that have been working double-time to develop a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cure, and the company shared its progress in this field.

According to this top biotech company, its partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will explore the potential of Olumiant as a COVID-19 treatment.

This drug was first approved in June 2018 as a rheumatoid arthritis medication. Health experts believe that its anti-inflammatory effects on the immune system could be effective as a COVID-19 cure.

The clinical trial for Olumiant will involve COVID-19 patients in the US, with results available within two months.

Other than this Olumiant trial, Eli Lilly has another potential COVID-19 clinical trial already in Phase 2 for an experimental antibody treatment currently dubbed LY3127804.

This trial will involve pneumonia patients diagnosed with COVID-19. These patients are at a higher risk of acquiring acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The antibody treatment trial is slated to begin by late April at several US centers.

Apart from these experimental treatments, Eli Lilly is also taking an active part in providing testing centers to frontliners in its home state Indiana.

In March, Eli Lilly launched drive-through testing centers for active healthcare workers. This initiative was in partnership with the Indiana State Department of Health and backed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Eli Lilly’s centers test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the type that caused COVID-19. This service is offered free of charge to frontliners.

Outside its COVID-19 efforts, Eli Lilly has been active in developing its pipeline.

The latest deal towards this end is with privately held company Sitryx, which focuses on creating drugs for cancer and inflammatory diseases.

The partnership involves a five-year collaboration culminating in the development of four drugs. Eli Lilly has already selected two lead projects from Sitryx’s pipeline to be the first drugs they’ll submit for licensing.

Founded in 2018, all projects in Sitryx’s pipeline are still in the preclinical phase. The company is also comprised of widely known immunology experts, with another biotech heavyweight GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) contributing to its technology.

According to the terms of the collaboration, Sitryx will handle drug discovery while Eli Lilly will fund the clinical development as well as the marketing efforts.

Sitryx will get $50 million from Eli Lilly upfront, with the Indianapolis biotech company making an additional $10 million equity investment.

Meanwhile, the smaller biotech is eligible to almost $820 million if the development milestones are reached. Sytrix is also entitled for royalties.

 Amid the pandemic, Eli Lilly is riding the momentum of its previous quarters and is still aiming to deliver a promising growth this year.

Coming off a strong 2019 fourth quarter, the company saw an 8% year over year growth in its top line. The entire year’s sales also went up by a modest 4% from how much they earned in 2018.

As for earnings per share (EPS), the said quarter showed off an impressive 49% year over year jump to reach $1.64. Meanwhile, the entirety of 2019 recorded an EPS of $8.89 which is more than twice 2018’s $3.13 total.

 For Eli Lilly’s 2020 performance, the company is anticipating more growth, especially after the completion of its $1.1 billion all-cash acquisition of Dermira.

This acquisition opens a plethora of opportunities for Eli Lilly, particularly in the dermatology medicines sector.

A prime example to illustrate potential growth is Dermira’s top-selling product Qbrexza, which is used to treat excessive underarm sweating. This bestselling item boosted Eli Lilly’s quarterly sales by 27%, increasing the revenue from $8.1 million to $10.2 million.

Even without the collaborations, Eli Lilly can stand on its own as a solid buy.

The company has shown a strong operating margin, staying over 20% in all the previous 10 quarters. Moreover, its free cash flow of $3.5 billion and consistent revenue generation platforms through the years, Eli Lilly is in a good position to take on more acquisitions down the road.

Basically, Eli Lilly is ideal for investors on the lookout for a biotech stock that you can buy and just forget.

Only a handful of sectors managed to escape the coronavirus pandemic unscathed as practically every stock suffered a 20% drop over the course of the past months. I believe there’s one group that merits our attention even in the midst of this pandemonium: the biotech sector.

I think biotech stocks will roar back soon enough, and buying shares of solid and well-managed biotech companies that pride themselves with promising product lineups and solid pipelines should be rewarded in the long run.

Among these biotech stocks, Eli Lilly is one of the best-positioned growth stories. Investors searching for a port in this coronavirus storm might want to take a good look at this biotech stock.