drugs

Indiana hasn’t reached the peak of the opioid epidemic yet.

The search continues.

Eli Lilly and Company has spent three decades and $3 billion in an Ahab-like quest to develop the world’s first effective drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

Austin has become a mecca for illegal drug use and crime. The problem was painfully highlighted by the HIV outbreak that hit this spring.

“I wish my patients wouldn’t bash the Affordable Care Act while benefiting from it.”

Indianapolis is drawing heroin straight from Mexico and bypassing Chicago altogether—which might account for the high potency.

“I was introduced to an Outlaws biker once when I was buying meth. The guy pulled out a .44 black powder pistol that was almost a foot long and set it on the table to intimidate me.”

Editor’s Note: The following originally appeared in the October 2005 “Small Towns” issue and is included among IM’s Best-Ever Crime Stories.

“We want high quality of life as long as possible, don’t we?” says Lilly executive Jan Lundberg. “Many of our current diseases are chronic, and they accumulate with age, so there are major demands coming from the aging population.”

With thousands of medical success stories and billions in revenue, officials at Lilly are still celebrating the success of Zyprexa. But its troubled path reveals volumes about how difficult bringing even an approved medication to market can turn out to be.