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Tanya Parish. Photo: University of Washington.

The Seattle-based Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), a product-focused nonprofit that fights infectious diseases around the world, announced today that it will receive $15 million from pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to continue its work in developing drugs to treat tuberculosis.

The funding comes in the form of $7.5 million in direct funding and $7.5 million in in-kind services, including access to Lilly research and development resources as well as the engagement of Lilly scientists on IDRI projects.

The newest commitment is a continuation of the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, a public-private partnership between the two organizations founded in 2007 and headquartered in Seattle.

The initiative is focused on filling the pipeline with possible TB drugs. The disease kills 1.5 million people per year, almost all in developing countries.

“Being part of the Lilly Initiative has helped us move through the phases of the traditional drug development ‘funnel,’” Tanya Parish, Vice President of Drug Discovery at IDRI and head of the Initiative, said in a statement.

“We work together as one team with common goals, using our individual areas of expertise; for Lilly that’s proven success in the field of drug discovery and for IDRI it is in-depth knowledge of tuberculosis,” Parish said.

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