Indianapolis based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has been in the news quite a bit recently. Maybe I just hear more about Lilly because I’m in Indiana. It’s clear to many in Indiana’s life science community that Lilly is one of a few foundational companies supporting Indiana’s life science presence. Here are some recent news postings regarding Lilly:

August 7, 2008: Lilly Sells R&D Facility to Covance – The commentary I heard about this deal was it would be very positive for both Lilly and Covance. This is supposed to help Lilly be more nimble regarding drug discovery.

July 22, 2009: Lilly Will House ImClone In New York Tech Park – The Lilly / ImClone news is evidence that New York is positioning itself to become a hub for biopharmaceutical research.

September 14, 2009: Lilly Unveils Blueprint for Speeding Innovative Medicines to Patients – Lilly unveiled a new operating model and announced a series of changes to speed medicines from its pipeline to patients. The interesting thing about this news that the local media picked up on was Lilly would be laying off 5,500 employees, many of which would be from Indy. The press release from Lilly doesn’t mention this explicitly.

October 14, 2009: Lilly Sells Tippecanoe Manufacturing Site To Evonik Industries – Instead of shutting the facility down, Lilly sold the site to Evonik, one of the world’s largest chemical companies. The employees of this facility will be offered employment with Evonik.

October 29, 2009: Lilly Opens Eco-Friendly Biotech Center in San Dieg0 – “We are moving full speed ahead toward building a biotechnology powerhouse,” said John Lechleiter, Ph.D., Lilly chairman and chief executive officer. “The science, technology and talent at our new center in San Diego will help bring novel biotech medicines to patients faster and more efficiently . . .” The biotechnology center is in close proximity to life science activity and research near the University of California and other prominent biomedical research institutes, which is consistent with Lilly’s FIPNet (fully integrated pharmaceutical network) strategy to leverage external resources and knowledge to advance its pipeline. The primary driver is biotech innovation.

October 30, 2009: Lilly CEO Calls for Repair of ‘Engine of Biopharma Innovation’ – Lechleiter offered a vision to San Diego officials for biopharmaceutical companies to “reinvent innovation” to make the most of today’s wealth of scientific knowledge to benefit patients and address unmet medical needs.

Here are some of my speculations about all the Lilly news:

• Lilly is quickly moving more into the biotech sector. (Maybe most of big pharma is?) Lilly claims to be the 5th largest biotech in the world.
• Lilly realizes Indiana is NOT a hub for biotech innovation.
• Lilly will likely reduce its R&D presence significantly in Indianapolis. Indy will be primarily focused on manufacturing.

Life science leaders in Indiana need to figure out how to be successful in a world without a strong Indiana presence from Lilly.