Launching Sarafem doesn't just allow Lilly to make more money off an existing compound before the patent runs out, although it certainly does that.

FORBES: Prozac To Fight PMS Under New Name

Even with one of the industry's better drug pipelines, Eli Lilly can't win the blockbuster game.

FORBES: Magazine Article

And Lilly isn't alone in relying heavily on a single drug that will soon face patent expiration.

FORBES: Lilly, Other Drugmakers Rely On Patents

Turned out, Lilly didn't need any help yet.

WSJ: Dodgers blow lead in 9th, lose to Mets 7-3 in 10

Wyeth and Lilly won't get results until 2011.

FORBES: Executive Health

And Zyprexa won't be the only product that Lilly will be counting on.

FORBES: Eli Lilly's Flowers Of The Mind

At its peak, Hazlett says, that drug will bring in only hundreds of millions of dollars, which won't fill the giant chasm left in Lilly's balance sheet by the loss of Prozac.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The biggest beneficiary could be ICOS, which doesn't have the diversified product lines of drug giants Pfizer and Lilly.

FORBES: Disaster Of The Day: Pfizer Loses U.K. Patent

Even if successful, prasugrel won't rival Plavix in time to make up for the losses Lilly faces when top seller Zyprexa, a schizophrenia drug, loses patent protection in 2011.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Meanwhile, some worry that Lilly's current sales leader, Zyprexa, can't hold off new competition in the schizophrenia market.

FORBES: Eli Lilly Faces Fate

Lilly's re-entry into the antidepressant market won't be a cinch.

FORBES: With Drug Approval, Lilly Sighs Relief

Launching fluoxetine as a brand-new drug allows Lilly to reach women and their physicians in a way that new publicity for the Prozac brand won't.

FORBES: Prozac To Fight PMS Under New Name