A delay to a key new product took the shine off Lilly's strong second quarter, which saw sales increase 11% to $5.15 billion (£2.6 billion).

Blood-clotting drug prasugrel will have to wait until at least September for an approval decision from US regulator the FDA, but some investors are worried it may take much longer for the drug to come to market.

Concerns about bleeding seen in some patients has prompted the FDA to put off its decision on the drug, but some analysts say this delay reflects the regulator's caution rather than any major problem with the product.

Prasugrel is a direct competitor to BMS and Sanofi-Aventis blockbuster drug Plavix, one of the industry's biggest selling brands. For Lilly, prasugrel is particularly important as it hopes it can eventually replace Zyprexa as its flagship product when Zyprexa goes off patent in the US in 2011.

Zyprexa anti-schizophrenia drug made sales of $1.2 billion in the quarter - accounting for more than 20% of Lilly's total sales.

"The ultimate fix for our patent losses will be the introduction of new products," chief executive John Lechleiter told Bloomberg, and said it had more than 50 new drugs in the pipeline.

Lilly's four biggest products after Zyprexa all performed well during the period, helping the company's sales reach $5.15 billion in the quarter. Cymbalta was up 26% to $654 million, Gemzar up 11% to $440 million, Humalog rose 22% to $438 million and Cialis was up 24% to $362 million.

For the full year the company increased its sales guidance, and it now expects growth in the high single to low double-digits.

pharmafocus@wiley.com