Friday July 4th, 2025 6:08PM

Lilly funding government program to help fight bioterrorism

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INDIANAPOLIS - Eli Lilly and Co. will fund a government program to help scientists from other countries fight bioterrorism and the natural spread of infectious diseases. <br> <br> Twenty-eight visiting scientists will train in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratories with U.S. researchers so they can better respond to outbreaks. <br> <br> Overseeing the effort will be the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an arm of the federal agency that forges partnerships outside government. The CDC has a similar program for U.S. scientists. <br> <br> ``The CDC has wanted for many years to have the same program internationally,&#39;&#39; said C. Charles Stokes, the CDC foundation&#39;s president and chief executive. ``But it just hasn&#39;t had the funding to do it, and it isn&#39;t the kind of thing Congress would use taxpayer money to fund.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Lilly, an Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical maker, is providing $2 million for the program over four years. It planned to announce the effort in Atlanta at Sunday&#39;s opening of the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases. <br> <br> Kei Koizumi, an analyst at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., said $2 million is a ``drop in the bucket&#39;&#39; in the federal government&#39;s counter-terorrism program. <br> <br> But Koizumi called it ``a well-targeted program that could address a real need.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Dr. Gail Cassell, Lilly&#39;s vice president of infectious diseases, said the World Health Organization is beginning a similar program that focuses on training scientists from developing nations.
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