Eli Lilly CEO On Why Making New Drugs Is Hard, Takes So Long, And Costs So Much

Pharmaceutical companies are often the poster children for what's wrong with the health care system. New drugs can take decades of development and cost billions of dollars in R&D, and once they clear the FDA, consumers are too often met with sticker shock and high prices for their meds. Dave Ricks, CEO of drugmaker Eli Lilly, this week's guest on Leadership Next, says drug development is very hard—so hard that most of the thousands of Lilly employees who work on R&D for the company may never work on a drug that's actually released. Diane spoke to Ricks about how AI will impact drug development, why health care shouldn't be a political football, and the company's smash-hit obesity drug Tirzepatide. Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.