Eli Lilly is expanding its innovation digs to Beijing, opening two research centers called the Eli Lilly China Medical Innovation Center and Lilly Gateway Labs.
The newest Gateway Lab is the second to set up shop outside of the U.S. following a recently announced European branch planned in the U.K. The innovation incubators employ a flexible partnership model that allows researchers to lease space and take advantage of Lilly’s resources and expertise during the drug development process.
So far, more than 20 biotechs have used the facilities, and more than 50 therapies are being developed at the labs, according to Lilly.
Other than the new international locations, Lilly operates two Gateway Labs in San Francisco and one in Boston, with a permanent location in San Diego planned for next year.
The new setups in Beijing will “further deepen Eli Lilly’s century-old business layout in China," Chief Scientific Officer and President of Lilly Research Laboratories Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., said in an Oct. 15 release.
“The new center will enable us to explore new clinical research designs to accelerate patient access to breakthrough therapies," Skovronsky added, while the Gateway Lab will “provide office space and research strategy guidance for domestic start-up biotechnology companies to help them develop a new generation of drugs for patients. "
Lilly plans to register its Beijing Medical Innovation Center as an independent legal entity, according to the company. The drugmaker’s work in China stretches back to 1918, when it established a Shanghai office. These days, Lilly employs more than 3,200 staffers in China.
Just recently, the company put $200 million toward an expansion of its sole manufacturing spot in China to bolster production of Type 2 diabetes and obesity meds Mounjaro and Wegovy. The newest investment will add 120 new jobs to the plant and brings Lilly’s total investment in the Suzhou site to nearly 15 billion Chinese yuan ($2.1 billion).
Lilly isn’t the only drugmaker planting innovation roots in China. Last month, Bayer opened the doors to its own life science incubator in the Shanghai Innovation Park, the latest in a line of external innovation facilities that also operate in Japan, Germany and the U.S.