Icos, believe it or not, is where the lives of Rathmann and Gates literally meet.
Lilly and ICOS have already filed their impotence drug, Cialis, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The biggest beneficiary could be ICOS, which doesn't have the diversified product lines of drug giants Pfizer and Lilly.
Through sponsorships and spokesmen, the Lilly-Icos team hopes to link its drug to longer duration, speed of action and athletic prowess.
Lilly ICOS, which manufactures Cialis, said there had been a small number of cases of NAION in people taking the drug.
That means Cialis will probably hit the U.S. market before vardenafil: Lilly and ICOS are predicting a launch in the second half of 2002.
Granted, some have criticized Rathmann for becoming starstruck, for courting Gates and packing the Icos board with famous names like former Citicorp CEO Walter Wriston.
An additional question mark for Cialis: It inhibits another phosphodiesterase enzyme, PDE-11, which is found in the testicles and the heart, although the Lilly-Icos team insists studies show no problems.
Lilly and Icos have another message in mind entirely: their Cialis works for more than 36 hours, compared with as few as five hours for Viagra and as long as a day for Levitra.
While Glaxo and Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ) have hired sports figures Mike Ditka and Rafiel Palmiero to help market their drugs, Lilly and Icos are focusing on the benefits of their drug.
Birchenough covers not Pfizer but Icos (nasdaq: ICOS - news - people ), a biotech company that co-markets Viagra rival Cialis with drug giant Eli Lilly (nyse: LLY - news - people ).
Hyseq's chairman is George Rathmann , who was the founding CEO of two successful biotechs: Amgen (nasdaq: AMGN - news - people ), the world's largest biotechnology firm, and ICOS (nasdaq: ICOS - news - people ).
Not only must it deal with Viagra-maker Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ), the world's biggest drug company, but also with Eli Lilly (nyse: LLY - news - people ) and ICOS (nasdaq: ICOS - news - people ).
Some have pinned hopes on anti-impotence drug Vardenafil, but that will face competition from Cialis, a drug being developed by Eli Lilly (nyse: LLY - news - people) and biotech partner ICOS (nasdaq: ICOS - news - people), as well as Pfizer's blockbuster Viagra.
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