Catalyze360 is like a sister or cousin organization to our traditional search and evaluation work. While search and evaluation is a mainstay of what we do, we're also thinking about other ways we could work with biotechs beyond traditional approaches, challenging ourselves to meet companies where they need us.

Historically, business development has largely focused on our established therapeutic areas. With Catalyze 360, we want to push well beyond that. Companies we want to work with are often at the cutting edge of science, doing things that haven't been done before while also learning from what's gone before.

Catalyze 360 is based on three pillars that we've heard the industry needs:

First is capital, without capital, you can't run experiments or hire teams. This is where our ventures piece comes in, investing in syndicated rounds to drive forward particular programs, platforms, and companies.

The second piece is our approach to incubators and accelerators, which we call Gateway Labs. We opened our first sites in San Francisco about five years ago, and more recently in Boston and San Diego. Last year, we announced our first international sites in the UK and Shanghai. The Gateway Labs model creates a curated community of biotechs. About 50% of these companies are strategically aligned with our interests, but 50% are not, because we want to be exposed to new science. When you're alongside people, meeting in cafes and attending the same seminars, you can really learn from each other.

The third part of Catalyze 360 is our capabilities piece, called Explore R&D. This leverages what I call the three T's of Lilly; tools, technologies, and talent. We have thousands of scientists who've worked in drug development their entire careers. This can help with anything from making a primetime antibody to solving formulation issues or running early-stage clinical studies. It's about leveraging what we've learned over our 100+ year history in developing drugs and making that available to biotechs.

Catalyze 360 was announced just over a year ago, and the team has been growing. What companies need changes over time, so we want to offer this selection of resources so we can meet biotechs with what they need when they need it.

In Conversation: Sketching The Future Of Biotech Investment With Lilly Ventures

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