INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced an ambitious plan to increase access to quality health care and to improve long-term health for millions of people worldwide. Through investments in people, medicines and health systems, Lilly aims to reach 30 million people in resource-limited settings annually by 2030. The cornerstone of this goal - known as Lilly 30x30 - is a new five-year, $90 million investment in the Lilly Global Health Partnership, which will improve access to treatment for diabetes, cancer and tuberculosis (TB). One-half of the $90 million commitment will come from the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation (Foundation); the other half
will come from company funds.
"Over the last two decades, we have made tremendous progress in expanding access to quality care in poorer communities, but we can and must do more. Lilly 30x30 is a company-wide mandate to achieve a six-fold increase in the number of people we reach annually, outside of our traditional business," said John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D., Lilly chairman, president and CEO.
Lechleiter continued, "We will engage the entire Lilly organization to ensure that our aspirational goals are met. The investments announced today will help millions more benefit from Lilly's life-saving work and accelerate our contributions toward the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals."
Expanded global health partnership to cover more diseases in more countries
A major component of Lilly 30x30 is a new five-year, $90 million investment to accelerate the company's and the Foundation's global health work with key international, national and local partners. The Lilly Global Health Partnership will expand current work in diabetes and TB and add cancer as a new therapeutic area of focus.
Working with expert partners, the Lilly Global Health Partnership will help people living in communities with limited resources in Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the U.S. Lilly will advance its existing global health work in many of these communities while identifying new opportunities for partnership. Consistent with the company's evidence-based approach, the Lilly Global Health Partnership will research new
models of care, report findings and advocate for the scale-up of the most effective solutions to help more people.
The Lilly Global Health Partnership includes a new $15 million commitment to the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI). This new commitment extends an eight-year collaboration to accelerate early-stage drug discovery and preclinical development for potential new TB medicines.
"In far too many places around the world, a lack of timely diagnosis and access to quality care prevents people and communities from flourishing," said global health expert Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D., who has collaborated with Lilly on fighting TB since the 1990s. "Lilly's expansive vision for, and significant commitment to, treating TB in poor communities is helping to change that. By strengthening health systems, Lilly's work not only led to important progress on TB but also laid the groundwork for more integrated care to better diagnose and treat chronic conditions like diabetes and cancer. We are grateful for the company's vision and commitment, which have improved access to care for current and future generations of patients."
Company-wide goal to help millions more people
Going well beyond philanthropy, Lilly 30x30 will evaluate many of the company's current business practices to stimulate thinking for expanding opportunities for medicines to reach more people. To reach 30 million people annually in communities with limited resources - a six-fold increase over the number reached today - Lilly will explore new approaches within different areas of its business, including:
Initiatives to strengthen health systems and local treatment capacity in communities with significant gaps in care
Patient education programs
Collaboration on drug discovery for diseases disproportionately affecting people in resource-limited settings
Product delivery and packaging more appropriate for people in resource-limited settings
Innovative business models, including alternative product pricing strategies to improve access to care.
The company will regularly report on the progress toward fulfilling Lilly 30x30 and the specific efforts that contribute to achieving this goal.
Building on a legacy in global health
The Lilly Global Health Partnership and Lilly 30x30 extend and accelerate work done through major global health programs supported by Lilly and the Foundation over the past two decades. These include the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership, which included a decade-long transfer of manufacturing technology for TB medicines, support of early-stage TB drug discovery and improved care in high-burden countries. In 2011, the Lilly NCD Partnership was launched to help governments and key stakeholders improve diabetes prevention and care for people in need. The Lilly Global Health Partnership encompasses and expands these continuing efforts under a single heading.
In addition, Lilly works to improve global health through many other collaborative efforts, including ongoing product donations and funding for Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) in Kenya; support of the International Diabetes Federation's Life for a Child program; and hunger relief efforts.
"Lilly has a strong, 140-year history of improving global health that goes beyond monetary and product donations," said David A. Ricks, Lilly senior vice president, who will assume the role of Lilly president and chief executive officer on January 1, 2017. "As a research-based company, we bring deep scientific and technical expertise to develop better solutions for people around the world. The Lilly Global Health Partnership will enable us to expand our reach in significant and meaningful ways."
About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at www.lilly.com and newsroom.lilly.com/social-channels. C-LLY
This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Lilly Global Health Partnership and the Lilly 30x30 program, and reflects Lilly's current beliefs. However, as with any such undertaking, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of implementing the programs under this Partnership. Among other things, there can be no guarantee that the goals referenced above will be achieved. For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, please see Lilly's latest Forms 10-Q and 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.
Refer to:
Edward Sagebiel; egs@lilly.com; 317-985-6303 (Indianapolis)
