Eli Lilly Plans R&D Investment in China

Indianapolis, IN (Nov. 14)-Eli Lilly plans to invest $100 million in research and development (R&D) in China over the next five years through Lilly Asian Ventures, a Lilly-owned venture capital firm that makes investments in Asia. 

Lilly Asian Ventures was established in 2007 with a geographic focus on the emerging life-science businesses of east and south Asia, particularly China and India.

Earlier this year, Eli Lilly invested $10 million in BioVeda China (Shanghai), a venture capital fund focused on investment in the life-sciences in China.

In September 2007, Eli Lilly formed an R&D pact with Hutchison MediPharma (Shanghai) for the discovery and development of new clinical candidates in oncology and inflammation. Hutchison MediPharma will receive development milestone payments of $20–29 million per candidate and royalties upon commercialization of a candidate.

Eli Lilly also has a pact with Shanghai ChemExplorer (Shanghai), a contract research organization in China. The companies formed a collaborative R&D pact in 2002.