Lilly bows out of diabetes deal with Taisho

Eli Lilly is bowing out of its licensing deal to commercialize a diabetes drug being developed by Japan's Taisho Pharmaceuticals. A year ago, Lilly bought the rights to TS-021 for all countries except Japan and China. A Taisho representative said that the drug had failed to meet Lilly's safety and efficacy standards in non-clinical trials, but declined to elaborate on exactly what those standards are. Taisho said it would continue to develop the compound on its own.

- here's the release on the breakup