Lilly Expansion to Fuel ‘Next Generation Development’
Lilly completed the CoLucid acquisition in March.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) says its new $70 million interdisciplinary laboratory in Indianapolis is a key piece of its "Next Generation Development" initiative. Vice President of Small Molecule Drug Development Bret Huff says the goal is to develop new medicines in half the time. He says allowing scientists with different backgrounds to more easily work together will have a "quite dramatic" effect on Lilly’s pipeline.
The lab, set to open in late 2017 or early 2018, will focus on small molecules, or treatments that are typically taken orally. Huff says that type of drug makes up about half of Lilly’s investigational medicines portfolio. The lab marks the latest growth for Lilly in its home city. In 2013, the company unveiled a $400 million expansion plan to increase its capacity for manufacturing insulin.
Huff says the company is continuing its strategy of investing in innovation throughout the United States. Already this year, Lilly has announced research and development expansion plans at its operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, San Diego and New York City. Huff says the projects all support the "Next Generation Development" process, which he hopes will lead to drugs hitting the trial phase, and, ultimately, the commercial market more quickly.
Earlier this month, Lilly reported third quarter net income of $799.7 million, up from $500.6 million during the same period the previous year. The company said the earnings were boosted by increased revenue thanks in part by the acquisition of Novartis Animal Health and the sales of drugs including Trulicity and Cyramza.