Eli Lilly exec urges scrutiny of new drugs

The Food and Drug Administration should do a better job tracking the risks and benefits of drugs after they reach the market, the chief executive of Eli Lilly & Co. said today.

Speaking before local business leaders at Boston College's Chief Executives' Club of Boston, Lilly chief Sidney Taurel called the FDA the best drug-regulating agency in the world, but suggested it would need to modernize to keep pace with increasingly customized medicines being developed by Lilly and other companies.

Although Congress is pushing for tougher safety controls on new drugs, Taurel said the agency should also monitor effectiveness after approval, because new side effects can emerge once drugs start being used by millions of patients.

Separately, Taurel said Lilly had "no plans at this stage" to establish a research operation in the Boston area. Although the company has partnerships with several local biotech firms, and recently bought a small Lexington sleep-drug firm, it remains one of the few large pharmaceutical companies without a research lab in the region.
(By Stephen Heuser, Globe staff)