Eli Lilly, Purdue to expand partnership with $250 million investment

INDIANAPOLIS -- Over the next eight years, Eli Lilly and Company and Purdue University will continue their partnership.




According to an announcement on Friday morning, Lilly is expected to invest up to $250 million in the collaboration. Officials said this partnership has the potential to be the largest ever industry-academic agreement in the United States.




The announcement states that the Lilly-Purdue 360 initiative seeks to accelerate innovation at "every stage of the pharmaceutical pipeline," by helping create a highly skilled workforce. The initiative also aims to achieve several goals including:

• Discovering and accelerating the delivery of medicines to patients





• Bridging the gap between laboratory discoveries and clincial applications





• Creating more resillient, efficient and sustainable supply chains





• Deploying innovating, scalable approaches to workforce development.

The two entities had an earlier agreement that was expected to expire in 2027. With the new partnership, the initiative will last through 2032, including existing joint programs like the Lilly Scholars at Purdue and the Lilly and Purdue Research Alliance Center.








The announcement said that the university will make space available for Lilly researchers in West Lafayette and Purdue researches will collaborate at Lilly's Indianapolis facilities as well as in the LEAP Research and Innovation District.




"As potentially the largest single university-industry research agreement in American history, Lilly and Purdue are blazing a new trail to the endless frontier," Purdue University President Mung Chiang said in the release. "As for our state, when its largest company and the largest university expand collaboration at a scale never seen before, especially in the backdrop of Lilly's manufacturing facility in LEAP, today marks a monumental watershed in the generation of jobs, workforce and innovation along America's Hard Tech Corridor. We thank Lilly for its pioneering impact on health and medicine in our society and for what is now the largest single research funding, from public or private capital, in Purdue's history."  




In the expanded partnership, the two entities are expected to concentrate on several areas, including:

• Applying AI-powered tools to augment traditional drug discovery methods while leveraging advancements in machine learning and big data analytics to explore disease mechanisms and personalized treatments





• Using technology to accelerate potential treatments from Phase I clinical studies to regulatory approval and technology transfer into manufacturing





• Incorporating robotics, AI and data sciences to scale manufacturing capacity more effectively





• Enhancing workforce development to make sure there is a strong talent pipeline to meet Lilly's demands, as well as the demands of other Indiana employers.

"Accelerating the delivery of life-changing medicines demands a highly skilled workforce and continuous innovation across discovery, process development and manufacturing," David A. Ricks, Lilly's chair and CEO, said in the release. "Through this expanded collaboration with Purdue, we look forward to combining our strengths in advanced technologies and cutting-edge science to pioneer new methods of delivering next-generation medicines to advance human health."




For more information about the university, click here. For more information about Lilly, click here.





via: https://fox59.com/indiana-news/eli-lilly-purdue-to-expand-partnership-with-250-million-investment/