BioCrossroads CEO bullish on Lilly’s latest LEAP commitment
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe CEO of BioCrossroads says Eli Lilly and Co.’s latest multibillion-dollar investment in the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District is tremendous for the state’s life sciences ecosystem.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker announced last week it is investing $4.5 billion to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, which will have a focus on both research and manufacturing medicines for clinical trials.
The investment, which could also come with 400 new jobs, brings Lilly’s total commitment in Lebanon to more than $13 billion.
Vince Wong, who was named CEO of the Indianapolis-based life sciences initiative in January, told Inside INdiana Business Host Gerry Dick that the benefits of Lilly’s investment is twofold.
“They’ve certainly been making lots of investments with regard to manufacturing, but this is also an investment in research as well,” said Wong. “So to both have new investments in research and manufacturing by Lily at the site is really tremendous.”
The investment, Wong said, fits into Indiana’s Heartland Bioworks being selected a year ago as a federal biotech hub.
That designation allows Indiana to use a $51 million grant to establish a training institute at the 16 Tech Innovation District in Indianapolis “to really create the workforce needed to deliver on the promise of what Lilly needs to meet the incredible demand they have for their therapy.”
Wong also noted the ripple effect of Lilly’s investment is very real in central Indiana.
“All these tier one suppliers for not only Lilly, but Novo and all the injectables that are developing therapies for obesity and other indications really have a great nexus here in Indiana, and we have a real critical mass of capabilities, know how, and infrastructure to support that,” he said.
As Indiana aims to become a center of biotech manufacturing, Wong said the state is seeing a golden age for life sciences.
“There’s a real focus on reshoring biopharmaceutical manufacturing back to these United States to really reduce the risk of supply chain due to geopolitical risk,” he said. “Indiana knows how to make things well, and it has a great legacy of manufacturing FDA-regulated products. We’ve got great institutions that are developing the workforce out of Purdue, out of IU, out of Notre Dame, and then also the legacy workforce as well that’s got that expertise.”