Lilly Provides Additional TB Funding to IDRI

Eli Lilly and Co. is providing more than $4 million in additional funding to the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) to continue its early phase drug discovery efforts to identify better therapies for tuberculosis, including multidrug-resistant strains known as MDR-TB. Lilly will also provide more than $1 million for volunteer time from Lilly scientists and access to the company’s drug discovery expertise, chemical libraries, and research tools.

To date, Lilly has provided more than $20 million to support early stage TB drug discovery efforts through IDRI. IDRI is a member of the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, a not-for-profit public-private partnership focused on accelerating early stage drug discovery for potential new treatments for TB.

“While preventable and treatable, nearly 1.5 million people die from TB and MDR-TB every year,” said John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D., Eli Lilly and company chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Today’s TB drugs are decades old and must be taken for extended periods of time, which present challenges for patients and health care providers. More effective medicines with fewer side effects are desperately needed.”