Year: 2016-17

Company: Eli Lilly

Liaison(s): John Stafford, Matthew Walworth

Eli Lilly & Co. is a global leader in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily focused on drug discovery and development. Founded in 1876, Lilly’s global presence enables delivery of trusted medicines in over 120 countries across five primary business areas: Bio-medicine, Diabetes, Animal Health, Oncology, and Emerging Markets. Lilly boasts a robust pipeline across major disease therapy areas, and hopes to enhance both innovation and collaboration via greater utilization and interaction with data. Big Data offers the opportunity to gather, store, and rapidly analyze the substantial datasets generated within Lilly’s R&D. With the primary goal of reducing the product development cycle to remain innovative and collaborative, Lilly seeks to investigate best practices and challenges to implementing a Big Data tool, both within pharmaceutical R&D, as well as across various industries. The Eli Lilly TMP team was tasked with investigating Big Data strategy and implementation. The project was completed in three stages: first, the team defined Big Data and conducted research on how scientific discovery and development currently interfaces Big Data; second, the team conducted internal interviews to better understand Lilly’s needs and challenges; third, the team conducted external interviews with those experienced in the field of Big Data ( users, vendors, and consultants ) and who work in various industries, including Agriculture, Social Media, Finance, Healthcare, Marketing, and Retail. In conclusion, the Eli Lilly TMP team has provided a comprehensive analysis on Big Data, as well as its applications, value proposition, and deployment.