Eli Lilly and Company plans to expand its global research and development (R&D) headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. Adding 130,000 square feet to Lilly’s existing complex, the new $70 million building will feature a multi-disciplinary laboratory that facilitates collaboration across multiple research functions. The new building is part of Lilly’s continued growth of its Indianapolis footprint, which included a $400 million expansion initiated in 2013 to increase its insulin manufacturing capacity.

Upon completion in 2017, the new building will enable organic chemists and engineers to work side-by-side in a collaboration-centric workspace with modelling, analytical, and formulation scientists. It will feature flexible laboratories that can adapt as research and technology needs evolve, as well as open, interactive meeting spaces that are meant to spark creativity and multi-disciplinary problem-solving. The laboratory will focus its efforts on small molecules, treatments typically taken orally, which currently comprise about half of Lilly’s investigational medicines portfolio.

This is Lilly’s fourth strategic research and development expansion this year. In May, Lilly announced it would build a delivery and device innovation center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In July, Lilly announced an expansion of its biotechnology center in San Diego, California. In October, Lilly announced an expansion of its presence at the Alexandria Center for Life Science in New York, New York.

Source: Eli Lilly and Company