Eli Lilly has unveiled plans to expand its long-standing partnership with Purdue University, with the drugmaker investing up to $250m into the collaboration over the next eight years.
The alliance, dubbed the Lilly-Purdue 360 Initiative, will utilise advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to “accelerate innovation at every stage of the pharmaceutical pipeline”.
The partners will focus on achieving several goals, including expediting the delivery of drugs to patients, bridging the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical applications, strengthening pharmaceutical supply chains, and enhancing workforce development.
Lilly’s chair and chief executive officer, David Ricks, said: “Accelerating the delivery of life-changing medicines demands a highly skilled workforce and continuous innovation across discovery, process development and manufacturing.
“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.”
The agreement builds on the partners’ earlier deal, which was previously set to expire in 2027 but has now been extended with four new projects added through 2032, and will engage existing joint programmes between the two collaborators, such as the Lilly Scholars at Purdue.
Purdue will make space available for Lilly’s researchers on-site in West Lafayette, Indiana, while the university’s researchers will collaborate in Lilly’s facilities in Indianapolis and Indiana’s LEAP Research and Innovation District.
Mung Chiang, president of Purdue University, said the announcement “[marked] a monumental watershed in the generation of jobs, workforce and innovation along America’s ‘Hard-Tech Corridor’”.
“We thank Lilly for its… 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,” Chiang added.
The expansion comes just days after Lilly signed a $415m licensing agreement for ATLX-1282, Alchemab Therapeutics’ preclinical programme for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases.
The company also partnered with Creyon Bio last month to develop RNA-targeted oligonucleotide therapies for a broad range of diseases.