Eli Lilly is investing more in its home state of Indiana, pumping up to $250 million more into an existing collaboration with Purdue University over the next eight years.
The boosted pact with the boilermakers will focus on artificial intelligence drug discovery methods, speeding up the process of moving drugs through clinical trials and into regulatory approval and manufacturing and enhancing the Indiana life sciences workforce, according to a May 9 release.
As part of the agreement, Purdue will grant workspace to Lilly researchers on the university’s West Lafayette, Indiana, campus, while Purdue researchers can collaborate with the Big Pharma in Lilly’s facilities in Indianapolis and Lebanon, Indiana.
The overall goal of the partnership is to get medicines to patients faster, accelerate the translation of new science into clinical trials, strengthen the pharmaceutical supply chain and improve the local economy of Indiana, the partners said.
“Accelerating the delivery of life-changing medicines demands a highly skilled workforce and continuous innovation across discovery, process development and manufacturing,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said in the Friday 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.”
Ricks is an alumnus of Purdue, having earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from the university in 1990. Ricks has served on the Big Ten school’s board of trustees since January 2025.
Lilly and Purdue first inked a $52 million five-year R&D pact in 2017, which was then re-upped in 2022 with an additional $50 million. This original deal will extend to 2032 as part of the new investment, which also engages other existing collaborations the two Indiana powerhouses have struck, like the Lilly Scholars at Purdue and the Lilly and Purdue Research Alliance Center, according to the release.
The long-time partners also announced the new Young Institute Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Consortium in January, which will seek to develop new drug manufacturing techniques by harnessing tech like autonomous systems and AI.