Eli Lilly and Company is an American multinational pharmaceutical company with its headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The company was founded by Colonel Eli Lilly in the year 1876 and incorporated in the year1901in Indianapolis and was named as Lilly Pharmaceuticals. Lilly, who was a chemist and a US Civil War veteran, was highly disappointed by the degraded quality of the medicines that were available at that time in the country. This led him to develop his own formulations and pharmaceutical products in a laboratory called "Eli Lilly, Chemist". There were just three workers at the time of the inception of the small laboratory, with Lilly’s son Josiah Kirby Lilly Sr. included among them. One of the first products manufactured by the company was the anti-malarial drug called quinine. In order to have someone with him to assist him in his work, Colonel Eli Lilly employed a chemist-cum-scientist called Ernest G. Eberhardt in the year 1886. In the 1920s, Lilly and his company joined hands with Canada-based scientist called Frederick Banting and American-Canadian scientist, Charles Best who were best known for their insulin discovery. They became involved in finding a cure for the-then dreaded ailment called diabetes. Together, they founded their insulin product which was called Iletin. It was launched in the year 1923 and was the first commercially available insulin across the globe. Later on in 1982, the launch of Humulin became a major achievement in the area of diabetes for the company. The next major discovery made by Lilly, in collaboration with Harvard University researchers, was the liver therapy which was used to treat yet another deadly disease called anemia. The antibiotics launched later by the company became the global best-sellers. The company established The Eli Lilly and Company foundation in the year 1968 for the purpose of charity.

The company specializes in the areas of oncology, diabetology, immunology, pain management, weight management, Alzheimer’s, neuroscience and anti-depressant.

Eli Lilly and Company has its manufacturing facilities spread across Indiana in USA and across seven different countries like Ireland and Germany. The company also has research facilities in seven countries. The company has established its offices in almost eighteen different countries and has a vast international presence in countries like UK, Spain, China, Portugal, Ireland, Germany, Greece and several others.

Some of the top products of the company are HUMALOG-MIX, HUMALOG, CYRAMZA, TRULICITY, GEMCITE, ALIMTA, FORTEO, HUMATROPE, OLUMIANT, HUMAPEN LUXURA HD, HUMAPEN SAVVIO, LILRINCAN, REOPRO, EFFIENT, LILBECEP and LILXAPLA.