News Release

NEW YORK, June 13, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is being recognized for conceiving and implementing a global partnership to address the multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) pandemic. Lilly will join a select group of businesses being honored at tonight's Global Business Coalition's Annual Awards Gala in New York City. The gala pays tribute to the role of business in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Lilly's pioneering MDR-TB Partnership began in 2003, when the company dedicated $70 million in funding to support a multi-pronged strategy to increase the supply and availability of effective drugs for treating the complex and life-threatening disease; training for front-line health care personnel; and efforts to focus global resources on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of MDR-TB.

In March 2007, the company recommitted an additional $50 million to the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership, which today consists of an international alliance of 14 public and private organizations, including businesses, humanitarian organizations, academic institutions, and professional health care associations.

"Lilly is honored to be among the esteemed organizations recognized by the Global Business Coalition," said Sidney Taurel, Lilly's chairman and chief executive officer. "We are pleased to share this recognition with the international alliance of organizations that have joined our battle to stop the spread of MDR-TB. Through our collective efforts, we are committed to providing the global resources necessary to improve the prevention and treatment of patients afflicted by this deadly disease."

Highly contagious, difficult to treat, and a growing threat to global public health, MDR-TB strikes about 450,000 people each year, with the highest prevalence rates in China, India, South Africa and the countries of the former Soviet Union. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the average MDR-TB patient infects up to 20 other people in his or her lifetime and cases of MDR-TB have been found in virtually every country surveyed by WHO. When drugs used to treat MDR-TB are misused or mismanaged, the even more virulent extensively drug resistant TB (XDR-TB) can develop.

The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is the pre-eminent organization mobilizing the resources of the business community in the fight against these diseases. The rapidly-expanding alliance of 215 international companies is dedicated to combating these epidemics through the business sector's unique skills and expertise. The GBC's expert teams assist member companies in the design and development of specialized programs that leverage a company's assets and business skills to tailor an individual response to a crisis. GBC is the official liaison of the private sector to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

"Eli Lilly and Company has set a new standard in the corporate fight against tuberculosis, and its Lilly MDR-TB Partnership in particular will serve as a superlative model for other businesses around the world to follow," said GBC President Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. "The business community plays a vital role in fighting global epidemics, and Eli Lilly and Company has demonstrated that the private sector can truly make a positive difference in this effort."

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 www.lilly.com.

C-LLY

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031219/LLYLOGO )

SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company

Phil Belt, +1-317-748-3915, or Lauren Cislak, +1-317-997-5180, both of Eli Lilly and
Company

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