Colonel Eli Lilly

Which pill would you rather take if you were sick?

Let’s vote!

Theories: How would the coating help to swallow a pill? Personally, I would pick the brown pill, because it is coated. The white pill in uncoated. Theories: How would the coating help to swallow a pill?

Who invented this pill? Famous Hoosier Colonel Eli Lilly discovered that covering pills with gelatin helped make them easier to swallow.

Early Life Eli Lilly was born July 8, 1838 in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1852, the Lilly family moved to Greencastle, Indiana. Eli Lilly attended Asbury College (now DePauw University). He graduated from the university in 1854 at the age of sixteen. After college, he spent several years in Lafayette gaining experience in the pharmaceutical field.

Eli Lilly’s Drug Store Then, in January 1861, with some financial help from his father, Eli opened his own drugstore on the town square in Greencastle.

Call to Service In April of 1861, President Lincoln called for men to serve in the Union army. Lilly was not eager to leave his new business and young wife. However, Eli knew it was his duty to serve his country. He closed the doors of his Greencastle drugstore, bade his pregnant wife good-bye, and joined the infantry.

American Civil War Lilly actively recruited among his classmates, friends, and farmers, asking them to join him in forming a unit. He had posters created and posted them around Indianapolis His unit was known as the Lilly Battery and consisted of 150 men. Lilly served as the commanding officer for three years. When Lilly's term of enlistment ended, he reenlisted and was promoted to leading officer of the 9th Indiana Cavalry. During a mission in Alabama in the December 1864, he was captured by troops. Eli was held in a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp at Enterprise, Mississippi, until the end of the war in the spring of 1865. In recognition of his service, Eli Lilly was given the rank of Colonel.

His Dream Becomes a Reality During the Civil War, Colonel Lilly was “frustrated by the ineffective medicines of his day.” So, on May 10th 1876 in Indianapolis he opened his first drug research and manufacturing company. He promised The Eli Lilly Company would: • “Be of the highest possible quality" • "Develop only medicines that would dispensed by medical doctors" • And that his company "would be based on the best science of the day"

Eli Lilly and Company Grew Quickly Eli Lilly’s dedication to quality allowed his business to grow quickly. His first innovation was coating pills and capsules with gelatin. Other early innovations included fruit flavoring for medicines and sugarcoated pills, making the medicines easier to take. Lilly’s son and brother began working for the expanding company. By the time of retirement, Lilly was a millionaire. Sadly, he developed cancer in 1897 and died in his Indianapolis home on June 6, 1898 at the age of sixty.

Eli Lilly’s Legacy After Eli Lilly’s death, his son Josiah took over the business. Josiah was able to continue the company’s growth. In fact, Eli Lilly continues to be one of the leading pharmaceutical companies today. In 2014 company sales were nearly $20 billion dollars.

Eli Lilly They were the first company to provide commercially available insulin. They were leaders in antibiotic manufacturing in the 1970’s.