Lilly Announces New Employee Policy

05-11-2007: Eli Lilly and Company announced an expansion of its employee policies to include protection of genetic information. This addition to Lilly's privacy and nondiscrimination policies ensures an employee's genetic information cannot be used to discriminate against them when making employment choices and benefits eligibility decisions.

Blood and tissue samples, used to determine a person's genetic make-up, can reveal important clues about disease prognosis or predisposition to certain diseases and can even help identify how some diseases will respond to different therapies.

"Some genetic tests can provide insights that individuals can use to make lifestyle changes - such as improving their diet, avoiding certain medicines or foods, and getting preventive medical care - that are likely to improve their health. However, if individuals believe this information will be used to discriminate against them, they may not be willing to share the information as a part of research and other healthcare programs," said Eiry Roberts, M.D., vice president of medical projects and program phase in Lilly Research Laboratories. "This fear could have grave consequences on future patient care and continued scientific discoveries."

"Access to genetic information will be imperative in advancing science. In some cases, genetic research will help physicians identify which patients are more likely to experience desired outcomes in response to medicines, which patients will require a different dose of therapy, and importantly, which patients will not respond," said Roberts. "Therefore, the information will provide value to the patient, physician and payer."