Eli Lilly, the US pharmaceutical company, reported a third quarter loss on Thursday related to a charge to settle investigations of its top-selling drug, while its rival Bristol-Myers Squibb said profit tripled in the quarter because of a big gain from selling its high-tech wound care business.

Eli Lilly, which earlier this month agreed to buy ImClone, said it had a loss in the quarter on a $1.48bn charge to settle US and state investigations of Zyprexa, its anti-psychotic medicine.