Our Work With Physicians

Working together for better health

Your doctor is committed to helping you live a longer, healthier, more active life. At Lilly, we share that goal. We know that one of the best ways we can understand patient needs is to work closely with the physicians who treat patients every day. When we collaborate, we can create the life-saving and life-enhancing medicines of tomorrow that patients worldwide have come to know and expect from our industry, and from Lilly.

We work with physicians in three primary ways, and we pay them for their contributions to our work, their time and expertise, as well as to cover costs associated with their work on behalf of Lilly.

Research and Development: Partnering in the process of making new medicines

We can’t deliver the medical breakthroughs of tomorrow without significant collaboration with physicians and researchers. They help us turn the scientific discoveries of our labs into clinical studies that investigate the safety and effectiveness of potential new medicines. Without these partnerships, new medicines could never reach millions of patients who are suffering with diseases such as cancer, diabetes, depression, and Alzheimer’s.

Finding the medicines of tomorrow is a long, risky, and expensive process that requires the pharmaceutical industry to conduct a series of clinical studies that may span years and include thousands of patients per study. We rely on practicing physicians and researchers to help us with these studies. Read more about the process of bringing medicines to the patient.

Education: Equipping health care professionals and patients with information

Few products in the world are as complex as innovative medicines. We work with physicians to help transform scientific discoveries into medicines that improve patients’ lives. A physician’s understanding of various disease states, the risks and benefits of our medicines, how to use them, and which patients are appropriate for our treatment options, is critical to how they help improve a patient’s overall treatment and health — whether they choose our products or not. Physicians value the opportunity to learn from their peers — other prescribers who have real-life experience with our medicines — and so we contract with physicians to serve as educators and speakers.

In addition, we interact with physicians through regular contact in the health care setting. In-office visits allow Lilly representatives to exchange information with physicians and their staff. We also invite physicians to attend out-of-office presentations, which involve more in-depth educational programs led by contracted speakers. Physicians provide us insights about patient care and we share the latest information about our medicines including the benefits and risks, the diseases they treat, and the patients for which a medicine might be appropriate.

Consulting: Advising on unmet patient needs

Discussions with health care professionals allow us to better understand the treatment challenges that physicians and patients face each day — and what potential new medicines are needed in the future to improve health around the world. Academic researchers, physicians, nurses, and health educators provide valuable insights that help us develop new treatments, and better education — ultimately leading to a better understanding of how we can make a difference for patients along their health care journey. Health care professionals also help by providing input on the design of clinical studies to ensure the outcomes will be meaningful to patients and their physicians, as well as providing insights and suggestions for effectively sharing information about our products.