Y2K fact checking 05/24/99 Amidst speculations about the impact of Y2K, we find that statements that have been portrayed as "facts" don't stand up to scrutiny. For instance, in an April 5 Computerworld article on Y2K and pharmaceutical companies ["Foreign Supply Failure Worries Drug Makers"], your reporter repeated inaccurate assertions found in a U.S. Senate report about the world's insulin supply.

We have seen several variations of the statement that 70% of the world's insulin is made in Denmark (or the Netherlands).

Another statement -- which also was included in the Senate report -- says 80% of raw materials used in manufacturing pharmaceuticals is sourced from outside the U.S.

These inaccurate statements could unduly cause worry about having enough insulin at the start of the new century. That is unfounded.

Lilly manufactures all of its human insulin in the U.S., near its company headquarters in Indianapolis. Only 15% of the raw materials Lilly uses to make its insulin comes from countries other than the U.S. In total, we rely on 44 suppliers for those raw materials to make insulin, and only nine of them are located in countries outside the U.S. Furthermore, in the U.S., we have all of the raw materials we need to make our 1999 year-end target inventories for major Lilly products.

Lilly is working to explain our Y2K readiness and address the flow of insulin to consumers.

Given the importance of the Y2K issue, it is crucial that statements given as "fact" are indeed true.

Doyia Chadwick

Eli Lilly and Co.

Indianapolis

-- Nobody (who@cares.tosay), May 26, 1999

Answers

This was presented yesterday here. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), May 26, 1999.

MANUFACTURING IS ONLY ONE ASPECT OF THE PROBLEM.

This from Eli Lilly's web site:

The manufacture of pharmaceutical products is critical to the company's mission of providing customers worldwide with pharmaceutical-based health care solutions. Lilly products are manufactured ... at more than 20 locations throughout the world.

The company's manufacturing operations cover the entire manufacturing process, from chemical processing of active drug substances to the final packaging of vials or bottles. Six major bulk chemical manufacturing plants are located in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In order to meet the company's objective of producing products of the highest quality while at the same time minimizing impact on the environment, the operations utilize state-of-the-art processing and automation technology.

Active ingredients are further processed in finishing plants located throughout the world, including major facilities in Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. These operations involve aseptic injectable products and orally administered tablets, capsules or liquids. Critical technologies utilized in finishing operations include high speed liquid filling, freeze drying, aseptic processing, dry powder processing, tablet compression, capsule filling, and high speed labeling and packaging. -----------------------------------------------------------------

It sure doesn't look like Eli Lilly was very concerned about Y2K 2 years ago. Check out this speech by Eli Lilly CIO in Hong Kong [3/97]: "Crossing the Harbor: Five Tough Questions About Global IT Strategy" at the Second Asia-Pacific Pharmaceuticals Roundtable .... NOT one mention of Y2K. Maybe they should have talked about a 6th tough question - Y2K!

" Information shock is what happens when you try to cope with the sheer volume of information that it takes to run our companies today.

- With different computer systems guided by different IT pilots, each seemingly on their own course. - And with the fact that the average chief executive hasn't studied this any more than he has studied traffic patterns in Victoria Harbour.

Can you trust that there really are rules governing your company's use of information and information technology? Can you be sure that the people running your systems understand that what happens in one part of the company may have repercussions and cause a major collision elsewhere? Will some greater force prevent this or is this a disaster waiting to happen?

This morning, I want to explore the dimensions of information shock in today's pharmaceutical industry. And at the risk of encouraging my boss to be even more inquisitive about what I do, I will pose some tough questions that every CEO should be asking the officer who has overall responsibility for IT in his company ...

Let me begin by citing some Lilly numbers that I will bet are representative of most major pharmaceutical companies. ... http://www.lilly.com/innovation/it/crossing_harbor.html

P.S. In March '98 I sat next to a guy from Pfizer research facility in NJ who was at a Y2K process control meeting in Houston. They hadn't done anything with embedded systems then. He was there to learn about the problem. After he had a grasp - then they were going to determine if they would handle internally or use an outside vendor for inventory/assessment/remediation.

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), May 26, 1999.