Purdue joins Lilly at LEAP in pharmaceutical training facility

Lilly announced on May 24 its additional investment to the LEAP District, including a new training facility in partnership with Purdue. LEAP is the midpoint along the Hard-Tech Corridor between Purdue's campuses in Indianapolis and West Lafayette.

INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue University is continuing its collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company as the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company’s official education partner at Indiana’s LEAP Research and Innovation District. Lilly announced plans to invest another $5.3 billion in its brand-new Boone County manufacturing complex on Friday (May 24), bringing the total investment to $9 billion. LEAP is a key part of the Hard-Tech Corridor from Purdue University’s flagship campus in West Lafayette to the heart of downtown Indianapolis.

Purdue and Lilly will continue to build upon their collaborative scholarship and training program, the Lilly Scholars program, which helps Boilermaker students earn pharmaceutical manufacturing scholarships and unique learning opportunities with Lilly, one of the world’s most innovative pharmaceutical companies. The inaugural Purdue class of Lilly Scholars just completed the 2023-24 academic year. The dynamic program offers 50-100 talented students full tuition with a guaranteed internship at Lilly and a promise of coordinated interaction with company leaders. Participating students will then be provided opportunities to compete for a role at the company following graduation.

As Lilly and Purdue work together on new curricula, experiential learning, and certificate and degree programs in pharmaceutical manufacturing, they will help continue to grow pharmaceutical manufacturing in Indiana and expand Purdue’s talent pipeline to the company with students supported by the scholarship program.

Lilly and Purdue have collaborated on multiple fronts over the years, but especially in 2024. The company’s world headquarters are less than a mile away from the new One Health Innovation District. That partnership between Purdue and Elanco, an animal health leader that was previously a subsidiary of Lilly before being divested, was announced on May 23. In January, Lilly Endowment Inc. approved two grants totaling $100 million to Purdue Research Foundation to support two major Purdue University initiatives — the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business and Purdue Computes — both of which were identified last year by Purdue as top strategic initiatives for the university. Together those commitments represented the largest gift in the university’s history.

About Purdue University 

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives. 

Writer/Media contact: Derek Schultz, dcschultz@purdue.edu