AMRI and Lilly have formed a collaboration agreement in which AMRI will support Lilly’s drug discovery programs. AMRI plans to hire more than 40 synthetic chemists by the third quarter of 2012 for the collaboration. The chemists will work onsite at Lilly’s headquarters in Indianapolis, IN, where they will support the medicinal chemistry department. AMRI expects that most of the chemists will come from Indiana and surrounding states.

This collaboration will “further accelerate Lilly’s drug discovery efforts by maximizing real-time exchange of scientific information,” according to an AMRI statement. The term of the collaboration is six years, extendable by mutual agreement of both parties.

“We are proud to be at the forefront of establishing a highly collaborative model inside the walls of an innovative biopharmaceutical company like Lilly, which we believe will help accelerate discovery and contribute to the highest quality standards in chemistry demanded by Lilly,” said AMRI’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, Thomas E. D’Ambra, Ph.D. “The scale and flexibility established with this agreement creates value for both companies.”

“Our partnership with AMRI is another example of how Lilly is transforming the way it conducts R&D, enabling our scientists to discover potential new medicines in as proficient a manner as possible,” said Alan Palkowitz, Ph.D., vice president of discovery, chemistry, research and technologies at Lilly. “We look forward to working with AMRI chemists on the Lilly campus to help us build our pipeline of the future.”