Discussion

Many early stage targets, molecules and therapeutics are discovered in academic institutes. At a certain stage these institutes may lack the financial means and technical expertise to further develop the assets. During this early stage of innovation it is often difficult to attract funding from Venture Capital funds or licensing interests from bio pharmaceutical companies.

Lilly has a long history of successfully collaborating with external innovators to serve the needs of patients. More than 90 years ago, Lilly worked with the University of Toronto to make the first commercially available insulin. Today our strategic relationships with venture collaborators have served as a useful mechanism to attract and develop innovation from both academia and small start-up companies. The Lilly Chorus unit has a reputation as an efficient and cost-effective engine for delivering human proof of concept studies. In our venture collaborations access to Chorus is a differentiating factor that motivates potential partners to approach our strategic venture collaborations. Examples of how our collaborations work and the successful outcomes generated so far will be presented.