On October 1st, 2001, Sidney Taurel, Eli Lilly's chief executive officer, gathered the pharmaceutical company's 41 000 employees via videoconference to outline far-reaching cost reductions. Standing in the cafeteria of Lilly's Indianapolis headquarters, Taurel added up the financial impact of losing patent protection for Prozac-the blockbuster antidepressant that accounted for over a third of Lilly's $2,8 billion profit in 2000.