Lilly Unveils Ambitious Partnership for Tuberculosis Drug Discovery
Independent, not-for-profit research organization will focus on early-phase
drug discovery; partners will contribute funding, expertise, laboratories
and compound libraries
SEATTLE, June 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:
LLY) today announced the creation of an ambitious public-private
partnership to conduct early-phase discovery research of new medicines
urgently needed to treat tuberculosis (TB), including emerging resistant
strains. The partnership will be a not-for-profit, drug-research
organization based in Seattle, which will draw upon resources from some of
the nation's leading tuberculosis and infectious diseases drug researchers
and organizations. Details of the Lilly Not-For-Profit Partnership for TB
Early Phase Drug Discovery were unveiled today at the Third Annual Pacific
Health Summit in Seattle.
"Today, we are taking an important step toward the discovery of new and
improved treatments for tuberculosis," said Gino Santini, senior vice
president of corporate strategy and business development at Lilly. "We
recognize that new drug research is needed to help save the millions of
lives that today are being lost to TB. By merging the resources of the
public and private sectors -- both scientific and financial -- this
partnership will serve as a catalyst to advance the early discovery of new
medicines for this ancient killer."
TB is a contagious disease of global proportions, killing someone every
20 seconds. Today's TB drugs are more than 40 years old and must be taken
for at least six to nine months for drug-susceptible tuberculosis. For
multi-drug and extensively-drug resistant strains of TB (MDR-TB and
XDR-TB), treatment length can be up to two years. Patients who do not, or
are unable to, adhere to lengthy treatment regiments breed drug resistance.
This mounting resistance to today's drugs, coupled with a growing number of
patients co-infected with TB and HIV, is making the pandemic more
threatening and deadlier.
The target growth for the new drug research organization will be to
staff up to 25 full-time, highly-skilled drug researchers. This will
include a board of directors and steering committee comprised of
representatives from Lilly and partnering organizations. It will seek
grants and contracts for additional funding with the ultimate goal of
becoming self-sustaining. Any profits from research would be returned to
the 501(c) (3) organization.
After acquiring ICOS Corporation (ICOS) earlier this year, Lilly
officials met with ICOS researchers who wanted to apply their experience to
discovering drugs for neglected diseases. Lilly embraced the concept and
began forming a public-private research organization aimed at early drug
discovery for tuberculosis and filling the gaps in current TB research. The
new organization will emphasize the screening of well-characterized
chemical libraries and improving access to medicinal chemistry, both of
which have been identified as important missing elements in current TB
research.
Lilly is committing $15 million to catalyze the partnership over the
next five years. As part of its commitment, Lilly will fund the leasing of
laboratory space to host the partnership's drug researchers. Lilly also
will equip the facility with high-tech machinery and biological tools used
for drug screening and testing.
Further, the company will open its library of more than 500,000 Lilly
medicinal compounds to researchers, who will test and screen them for
possible TB treatments. In addition, a high-level Lilly Chemistry Advisory
Committee will provide expertise to the research staff.
The initiative will tightly integrate medicinal chemistry expertise
from the pharmaceutical industry with academic expertise in chemistry,
microbiology and TB, particularly basic biology genetics and molecular
biology. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),
part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Foundation for the
NIH will partner with the Lilly Not-For-Profit Partnership for TB Early
Phase Drug Discovery to facilitate the identification and further
development of the most promising drug leads for TB. NIAID's current
domestic and international investment in TB research is $120 million, with
$42 million of that invested in more than 70 projects focused on TB drug
development.
Other partners contributing to the effort include Afya World Medicines,
Inc., the Infectious Disease Research Institute, Jubilant Biosys, Merck and
Company, the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, and the University of
Washington Department of Global Health.
"The emergence of TB strains resistant to all existing antibiotics and
the spread of these strains to otherwise healthy individuals demands an
urgent response," said Gail Cassell, Ph.D., D.Sc., Lilly's vice president
of scientific affairs and distinguished research scholar, a leading
authority in infectious diseases research. Cassell will lead the company's
effort.
"Drug development for any disease is challenging, but this is
particularly true for TB, because the organism is complex. One new drug is
not enough. At least four new antibiotics are needed, because TB treatment
requires a combination of antibiotics," said Cassell. "The magnitude of the
challenge and the urgency of the need require global collaboration and the
talents of some of the world's leading researchers and scientific
organizations."
Cassell noted that the partnership's discovery research is meant to
enhance the early stage pipeline of The Global Alliance for TB Drug
Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit, product-development
partnership accelerating the discovery and development of new TB drugs. The
TB Alliance, which operates with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, and the governments of the Netherlands, UK, Ireland and the
United States, will have representation on the governing committees of the
partnership to ensure coordination of efforts.
Today's announcement brings Lilly's financial support to fight TB to
$135 million. The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership, started in 2003 and funded with
an eight-year, $120 million contribution, is dedicated to the prevention,
diagnosis and treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis around the
world. For its role in conceiving and executing the Lilly MDR-TB
partnership. Lilly was recognized today by The Global Business Coalition on
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with an award of excellence.
About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation, is developing a growing
portfolio of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products by
applying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and from
collaborations with eminent scientific organizations. Headquartered in
Indianapolis, Ind., Lilly provides answers -- through medicines and
information -- for some of the world's most urgent medical needs.
Additional information about Lilly is available at http://www.lilly.com.
C-LLY
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SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company
