Eli Lilly Drug Theft

In a heist of remarkable scale, thieves stole $75 million worth of drugs from an Eli Lilly warehouse in Connecticut. In cinematic style, the thieves cut a hole in the roof of the warehouse, lowered themselves down on a rope, disabled the alarm system, and then hauled away numerous crates of drugs. The stolen items include a variety of antipsychotics, antidepressants and ADHD drugs. The official list of stolen drugs reported from Eli Lilly includes Zyprexa, Gemzar, Cymbalta, Stattera, Prozac, Alimta, Effient, and Symbyax.

According to an article in the WSJ:

Cargo theft in the pharmaceutical sector is on the rise. Last year, there were 46 drug thefts valued at a total of $184 million, up from 35 thefts of about $41 million in 2007, according to Dan Burges, director of intelligence at the U.S. division of FreightWatch International, a supply-chain security consultant. There have been 10 pharmaceutical thefts valued at a total of $110 million this year, he said. These values represent manufacturing, packaging and shipping costs

In the midst of economic struggle within the pharmaceutical sector, this theft delivers a serious blow to Eli Lilly’s bottom line. We imagine that other pharmaceutical companies will take notice  of this incident and beef up security at their facilities.

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