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INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With the global prevalence of new cancer cases expected to rise by 70 percent during the next two decades, representatives from government, academic, pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies are pooling their knowledge to accelerate treatments to patients.¹ Today, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: [ LLY ]) announced it will contribute cancer research data to the National Cancer Institute's Blood Profiling Atlas, an open access liquid biopsy database being created in response to Vice President Joe Biden's call to action and in alignment with the goals of the Cancer Moonshot initiative. The database is an effort to reduce the development time of effective and safe blood profiling diagnostic technologies.

"We are honored to be a part of this unique partnership," said Andrew Schade, M.D., Ph.D., a distinguished medical fellow in Lilly's clinical diagnostics laboratory. "Liquid biopsies are going to be critical in the future to both identify specific patients for targeted therapies and to follow their treatment to better determine response to therapy. We hope knowledge gained from our research efforts in this area will help to accelerate the development of safe and effective blood profiling diagnostic technologies that help people with cancer."

In support of this overarching mission, Lilly is studying approaches for the profiling of exosomes for mRNA and non-coding RNA expression and will share sample preparation methods, next-generation quantitative PCR-based methods, and next generation sequencing-based methods along with data related to disease characterization through gene expression analysis.

"Our scientists are dedicated to discovering and developing new cancer treatments to help people living with this disease," said Jan Lundberg, Ph.D., executive vice president of science and technology and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. "In addition to our own research, external partnerships are paramount, and we look forward to collaborating with other experts as part of the Cancer Moonshot initiative."

The Blood Profiling Atlas is part of the Cancer Moonshot initiative, which was established to improve the way research is conducted and expedite the delivery of medicines to patients. Allowing approved researchers access to raw unprocessed datasets in a scalable and reproducible manner, the open database will feature the following data: raw data sets from circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and exosome assays, as well as relevant clinical data, sample preparation, and handling protocols from 12 different studies. The Blood Profiling Atlas pilot will be curated by a partnership between the University of Chicago and Seven Bridges, a biomedical data analysis company. For more information about the Blood Profiling Atlas, please [ click here ].

About Lilly Oncology
For more than 50 years, Lilly has been dedicated to delivering life-changing medicines and support to people living with cancer and those who care for them. Lilly is determined to build on this heritage and continue making life better for all those affected by cancer around the world. To learn more about Lilly's commitment to people with cancer, please visit [ www.LillyOncology.com ].

About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at [ www.lilly.com ] and [ newsroom.lilly.com/social-channels ]. (P-LLY)

Lilly Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" (as that term is defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) regarding Lilly's efforts to the National Cancer Institute's Blood Profiling Atlas, and reflects Lilly's current beliefs. However, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of drug research, development and commercialization. Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that these investigational combination regimens will receive regulatory approval, or, if approved, will achieve intended benefits or become commercially successful. For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from Lilly's expectations, please see the company's latest Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements for events occurring after the date of this release.

¹ Cancer. World Health Organization. [ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/ ]. Accessed October 2016.

Refer to: Media a" Amy Sousa; [ sousa_amy_e@lilly.com ]; (317) 997-1481

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SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company