'We're pretty prolific': Lilly Catalyze360 looks to connect with emerging biotechs across 'all areas'
As Eli Lilly continues to capitalize on its trove of Mounjaro and Zepbound cash with major outside deals, the company’s early external innovation and collaboration arm, Lilly Catalyze360, is welcoming all comers into the fold.
In recent years, Lilly has made major inroads—both internally and externally—into spaces like neurodegeneration, pain, diabetes, obesity and oncology. Beyond those fields, however, “I think all areas are on the table for us,” according to Nisha Nanda, Ph.D., group vice president of business development for Catalyze360 at Lilly.
“We’re pretty prolific out there in the ecosystem, working with small companies outside our therapeutic areas,” Nanda told Fierce in an interview.
Nanda emphasized the importance of “great science” and “excellent platforms” when it comes to Catalzye360’s partnership focus.
“We talk to companies all the time,” she said. “We talk to venture capitalists all the time. We’re open for business with anyone.”
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Lilly Catalyze360 was officially unveiled by Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks at this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January.
The program is propped up on three main pillars, Nanda said. Those areas are Lilly Ventures, Lilly Gateway Labs and Lilly ExploR&D.
Gateway Labs provides co-working spaces for researchers that also act like accelerators, while Lilly Ventures aims to serve as an investor and partner for biotechs around the world. ExploR&D, for its part, aims to offer Lilly’s investigational-new-drug-enabling and clinical development firepower for drug developers.
“With Lilly Ventures, we take the opportunities of fun, excellent science,” Nanda said. “We are the limited partner in a bunch of venture firms—and we also do direct investments in companies. We have Lilly Gateway Labs, which is our world class lab space that we have opened in South San Francisco and San Diego … and then we have Lilly ExploR&D, which is deploying Lilly’s R&D capabilities into the biotech ecosystem.”