Eli Lilly CEO has no plans to buy Amylin

By Deena Beasley

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) is content with its diabetes drug partnership with Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMLN.O) and has no plans to acquire the biotech company, Lilly's chief executive said on Monday.

"We like the relationship just the way it is now," Lilly CEO John Lechleiter told Reuters in an interview.

The companies jointly market diabetes drug Byetta and are expected to file by mid-year for regulatory approval of a weekly formulation of the injected medicine.

Amylin has been the subject of proxy battles aimed at shaking up the company's board. Activist investor Carl Icahn last week said he was in favor of selling the San Diego company, but only at a price of at least $30 per share.

Amylin shares were down 2 percent at $11.02 in late afternoon trade on the Nasdaq.

Lechleiter said Byetta sales, which lost market share after reports last summer that the drug may increase the risk of potentially deadly inflammation of the pancreas, have begun to stabilize, "hopefully in a prelude to further growth."

The CEO said Lilly also has high hopes for sales of anti-clotting drug prasugrel, which is awaiting approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"We expect it to be a very significant product," he said, noting that the company expects the bleeding risk associated with some patients to be managed through labeling.