Eli Lilly and Company, doing business as Lilly, is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 countries. The company was founded in 1876 by Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical chemist and Union army veteran during the American Civil War for whom the company was later named.
The company is ranked 4th on the list of largest biomedical companies by revenue and is the most valuable pharmaceutical company worldwide. It is ranked 100th on the Fortune 500 and 138th on the Forbes Global 2000. In November 2025, the company reached a $1 trillion market capitalization, the first health-care company in the world to do so.
The company's primary products are tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) for the treatment of type2 diabetes, weight loss, and obstructive sleep apnea (56% of 2025 revenues); abemaciclib (Verzenio) for the treatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancers (9% of 2025 revenues); dulaglutide (Trulicity) for the treatment of type2 diabetes (7% of 2025 revenues); ixekizumab (Taltz) for the treatment of autoimmune diseases (6% of 2025 revenues); and empagliflozin (Jardiance) for the treatment of type2 diabetes (5% of 2025 revenues). Products that have a minor contribution to revenues include Insulin lispro (Humalog), a modified type of medical insulin; ramucirumab (Cyramza), a fully human monoclonal antibody used for the treatment of cancer; baricitinib (Olumiant), an immunomodulatory medication used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia areata, and COVID-19; insulin (Humulin) to treat high blood glucose; and galcanezumab (Emgality), a humanized monoclonal antibody used for the prevention of migraines. In 2024, 67% of the company's revenues came from the United States, 18% came from Europe, 3% came from Japan, and 3% came from China.
Lilly was the first company to mass-produce both the polio vaccine, developed in 1955 by Jonas Salk, and insulin. It was one of the first pharmaceutical companies to produce human insulin using recombinant DNA, including Humulin (insulin medication), Humalog (insulin lispro), and the first approved biosimilar insulin product in the US, Basaglar (insulin glargine). It achieved commercial success with major depressive disorder drugs Prozac (fluoxetine) (1986), Cymbalta (duloxetine) (2004), and its antipsychotic medication Zyprexa (olanzapine) (1996), all of which are now off patent and are manufactured by others as generic drugs. In 2005, Lilly brought exenatide to market—the first of the GLP-1 receptor agonists—followed by the GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound (tirzepatide).
The Lilly Endowment, a charitable foundation organized in 1937 by the founding family, owns 9.8% of the company.
History Founding
The company was founded by Colonel Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical chemist and Union army veteran of the American Civil War. Lilly served as the company president until his death in 1898.
In 1869, after working for drugstores in Indiana, Lilly became a partner in a Paris, Illinois-based drugstore with James W. Binford. Four years later, in 1873, Lilly left the partnership with Binford, and returned to Indianapolis. In 1874, Lilly partnered with John F. Johnston, and opened a drug manufacturing operation called Johnston and Lilly.
In 1876, Lilly dissolved the partnership, and used his share of the assets to open his own pharmaceutical manufacturing business, Eli Lilly and Company, in Indianapolis. The sign outside, above the shop's door, read: "Eli Lilly, Chemist."
The Indiana Historical Society recreated a replica of the first Lilly laboratory on Pearl Street for its exhibition, "You Are There: Eli Lilly at the Beginning," at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center in Indianapolis. The temporary exhibition (1 October 2016, to 20 January 2018) also included costumed interpreters portraying Colonel Lilly and others.See See also
In 1886, Ernest G. Eberhardt, a chemist, joined the company as its first full-time research scientist.
Lilly began his manufacturing venture with three employees, including his son, Josiah (J. K.). One of the first medicines that Lilly produced was quinine, a drug used to treat malaria, a mosquito-borne disease.Price, Indiana Legends, p. 57. By the end of 1876, sales reached $4,470.
Around 1890, Col. Lilly turned over operation of the family business to his son, Josiah, who ran the company for the next several decades. Col. Lilly remained active in civic affairs and assisted a number of local organizations, including the Commercial Club of Indianapolis, which later became the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce,Bodenhamer and Barrows, eds., p. 399. and the Charity Organization Society, a forerunner to the Family Services Association of Central Indiana, an organization supported by United Way of America.Bodenhamer and Barrows, eds., pp. 402–03, 911–12, and 560–61. Josiah's sons, Eli and Joe, were also philanthropists who supported numerous cultural and educational organizations.Bodenhamer and Barrows, eds., pp. 910–12.
19th century In 1878, Lilly hired his brother, James, as his first full-time salesman, and the subsequent sales team marketed the company's drugs nationally. By 1879, the company had grown to $48,000 in sales.
The company moved its Indianapolis headquarters from Pearl Street to larger quarters at 36 South Meridian Street. In 1881, the company moved to its current headquarters in Indianapolis's south-side industrial area, and the company later purchased additional facilities for research and production. The same year, Lilly incorporated the business as Eli Lilly and Company, elected a board of directors, and issued stock to family members and close associates.
Lilly's first innovative product was gelatin-coating for pills and capsules. The company's other early innovations included fruit flavorings and sugarcoated pills, which made the medicines easier to swallow.
In 1882, Colonel Lilly's only son, Josiah K. Lilly Sr. (J. K.), a pharmaceutical chemist, graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in Philadelphia, and returned to Indianapolis to join the family business as a superintendent of its laboratory.
In 1883, the company contracted to mix and sell Succus Alteran, its first widely successful product and one its best sellers. The product was marketed as a "blood purifier" and as a treatment for syphilis, some types of rheumatism, and skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis.
By the late 1880s, Colonel Lilly was one of the Indianapolis area's leading businessmen, and the company had over 100 employees and $200,000 in annual sales.
In 1890, Colonel Lilly fully turned over the day-to-day management of the business to J. K., who ran the company for 34 years. The 1890s were a tumultuous decade economically, but the company flourished.Price, Indiana Legends, p. 60. In 1894, Lilly purchased a manufacturing plant to be used solely for creating capsules. The company also made several technological advances in the manufacturing process, including automating its capsule production. Over the next few years the company annually created tens of millions of capsules and pills.
In 1898, Lilly's son, J. K. Lilly, inherited the company and became its president following Colonel Lilly's death. At the time of Colonel Lilly's death, the company had a product line of 2,005 items and annual sales of more than $300,000.Bodenhamer and Barrows, eds., p. 912. Colonel Lilly was a pioneer in the modern pharmaceutical industry, with many of his early innovations later becoming standard practice. His ethical reforms in a trade that was marked by outlandish claims of miracle medicines began a period of rapid advancement in the development of medicinal drugs.Madison, Eli Lilly, pp. 17–18, 21. J. K. Lilly continued to advocate for federal regulation on medicines.Madison, Eli Lilly, pp. 51, 112–15.
As the Lilly company grew, other businesses set up operations near the plant on Indianapolis's near south side. The area developed into one of the city's major business and industrial hubs. Lilly's production, manufacturing, research, and administrative operations in Indianapolis eventually occupied a complex of more than two dozen buildings, which covered 15-block area, in addition to its production plants along Kentucky Avenue.
In addition to Colonel Lilly, his brother, James, and son, Josiah (J. K.), the company employed other Lilly family. Colonel Lilly's cousin, Evan Lilly, was hired as a bookkeeper. Lilly's grandsons, Eli and Josiah Jr. (Joe) joined the company from a young age. Under J. K.'s leadership, the company introduced scientific management concepts, organized the company's research department, increased its sales force, and began international distribution of its products. For the rest of the late 19th century, Lilly operated in Indianapolis and the surrounding area as many other pharmaceutical businesses did, manufacturing and selling "sugar-coated pills, fluid extracts, elixirs, and syrups". The company used plants for its raw materials and produced its products by hand. One historian noted, "Although the Indianapolis firm was more careful in making and promoting drugs than the patent medicine men of the era, the company remained ambivalent about scientific research."
1900s
In 1905, J. K. Lilly oversaw a large expansion of the company, and it reached annual sales of $1 million.
Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the company sent much-needed medicine to support recovery efforts.
Before and after World War I, the company experienced rapid growth, including expanded manufacturing facilities at its McCarty Street plant, which improved production capacity with a new Science Building (Building 14), opened in 1911, and a new capsule plant (Building 15) in 1913.Madison, Eli Lilly, p. 30. In 1913, the company began construction of Lilly Biological Laboratories, a research and manufacturing plant on 150 acres near Greenfield, Indiana. Note: This includes and Accompanying photographs.
After World War I, the company's expanded production facilities and introduction of new management methods set the stage for Lilly's next crucial phase—its "aggressive entry into scientific research and development." The first big step came in 1919 when Josiah Lilly hired biochemist George Henry Alexander Clowes as director of biochemical research.Madison, Eli Lilly, p. 53. Clowes had extensive medical research expertise and links to the scientific research community, which led to the company's collaborations with researchers in the US and elsewhere.Madison, Eli Lilly, p. 55. Clowes's first major collaboration with researchers who developed insulin at the University of Toronto significantly impacted the company's future. Lilly's success with insulin production secured the company's position as a leading research-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, allowing it to attract and hire more research scientists and to collaborate with other universities in additional medical research.Madison, Eli Lilly, p. 63.
In addition to developing new medicines, the company achieved several technological advances, including the automation of its production facilities. Lilly was also an innovator in pill capsule manufacturing. It was among the first manufacturers to insert medications into empty gelatin capsules, which provided a more exact dosage. Lilly manufactured capsules for its own needs and sold its excess capacity to others.Madison, "Manufacturing Pharmaceuticals," Business and Economic History, p. 73.