Two-year $2.8 million Grant from Lilly Endowment Fuels BioCrossroads’ Charitable, Educational and Scientific Mission

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — BioCrossroads today announced the
receipt of a two-year $2.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The grant
will fund a range of charitable, educational and scientific activities through
2013 as BioCrossroads continues to build upon Indiana’s signature strengths in
the life sciences.

“As BioCrossroads approaches our 10-year anniversary in early 2012, we recognize
that Lilly Endowment’s significant investment in our initiative has been a
game-changer for the success of Indiana’s life sciences sector and, therefore,
for our entire community,” said D. Craig Brater, MD, chairman of the board of
BioCrossroads. “As detailed in a recent Battelle report on the progress of
Indiana’s life sciences cluster, Indiana has seen a decade of substantial growth
and tremendous progress across a wide range of nationally significant
indicators. This is in large part due to the efforts of BioCrossroads and the
major support of its founding stakeholders, especially Lilly Endowment.”

Indiana’s life sciences sector has received national recognition as a life
sciences center. In June 2009, The Economist said, “Though every state wants to
be a hub in the life sciences, Indiana actually is one…” More recently, an
August Wall Street Journal article called Indianapolis a hotbed of activity for
the life sciences, citing the state’s 825 life sciences companies and 8,800 new
jobs.

Grants from Lilly Endowment for the BioCrossroads initiative (now totaling more
than $25 million) go to the CICP Foundation, which also supports other eligible
charitable, educational and scientific initiatives and activities of the Central
Indiana Corporate Partnership. Since its inception, BioCrossroads has focused on
projects that work with existing assets and connect them to the community in new
ways, leading to the creation of eight collaborative enterprises, such as the
Indiana Health Information Exchange, OrthoWorx and the Datalys Center for Sports
Injury Research and Prevention.

Also, BioCrossroads has produced four leading Indiana life sciences reports
since 2008 covering biopharmaceutical development, health information
technology, orthopedics and Indiana’s overall life sciences industry. These
reports have helped elevate the regional and national visibility of each of
these sectors as centers of innovation and excellence.

In a related development, Lilly Endowment also awarded a two-year $1.6 million
grant to the CICP Foundation for the operations and expansion of the I-STEM
Resource Network. Launched and sponsored by BioCrossroads, the network is a
statewide consortium of higher education institutions managed by Purdue
University which draws upon the efforts of 17 other universities, colleges and
other institutions of higher learning around Indiana. The I-STEM initiative
represents a unique and shared mission by these stakeholders to provide
professional development for K-12 teachers that should result in measurable
improvement in student achievement in the STEM disciplines. Such achievement is
vital in preparing Indiana’s next generation for some of the state’s best
opportunities in top fields, such as the life sciences, that draw heavily upon
skills in mathematics and science.

“Lilly Endowment is pleased to support BioCrossroads’ growing impact on the
development of Indiana’s nationally significant life sciences cluster,” said N.
Clay Robbins, Endowment president. “One of the Endowment’s objectives is to help
foster rewarding economic opportunities for Indiana residents. The flourishing
of the state’s life sciences cluster should result in the creation of many more
such opportunities, which in turn should benefit residents and strengthen
communities throughout Indiana.

About Lilly Endowment Inc.

The Endowment was founded in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family through
gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While
those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a
separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and
location. In keeping with the wishes of the founders, the Endowment supports the
causes of community development, education and religion. The Lilly family’s
foremost priority was to help the people of their city and state build a better
life, and the Endowment remains primarily committed to Indianapolis and Indiana.

About BioCrossroads

BioCrossroads (www.biocrossroads.com) is Indiana’s initiative to grow, advance
and invest in the life sciences, a public-private collaboration that supports
the region’s existing research and corporate strengths while encouraging new
business development. BioCrossroads provides money and support to life sciences
businesses, launches new life sciences enterprises (Indiana Health Information
Exchange, Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities, BioCrossroadsLINX, and
Datalys Center), expands collaboration and partnerships among Indiana’s life
science institutions, promotes science education and markets Indiana’s life
sciences industry.

SOURCE BioCrossroads