Lilly's Chorus Experiment

With clinical failure rates rising industry-wide, a skunkworks at Lilly, called Chorus, has been trying to boost likely-to-succeed shots on goal by getting compounds to human proof-of-concept far faster and cheaper than the internal organization. Lilly's R&D group is skeptical about the program, even anxious -- one reason Chorus has teamed up with a major venture fund to get more molecules to test. If the program works, will Lilly embrace it - or will its venture partner reap the rewards?

By Roger Longman

In the race for biotech’s most interesting projects, Eli Lilly & Co. looks like an also-ran. Maybe even a bystander.

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