Lilly Endowment awards $50 million to Butler, Purdue pharmacy programs

N. Clay Robbins, Bobby Fong and Martin C. Jischke
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"Indiana is fortunate to have these two excellent universities that can help lead us all to a healthier future," said Endowment President N. Clay Robbins. "Purdue's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Butler's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences have well-regarded programs that are making significant contributions to the advancement of pharmaceutical science and pharmacy education. Each will receive $25 million to support ongoing and new efforts that build on each university's distinctive and considerable strengths."

Purdue will focus on developing systems to reduce medication errors, combat counterfeit medications, reduce costs and time needed to develop drugs, develop delivery systems for cancer drugs to reduce toxicity, and prevent and manage adverse drug reactions. Purdue also has pledged to raise an additional $10 million in private funds to augment the Endowment's investment.

Butler will expand its public health initiatives, integrate health education across its curriculum, and provide students and faculty with opportunities to work with underserved populations.

Both will use a portion of the funds to recruit and retain high-caliber pharmacy faculty and support efforts for their students and faculty to serve diverse cultures.

"This generous gift — the largest in Butler's history — supports our aspirations for pharmacy as well as our commitments to academic excellence, diversity and service to community that are the cornerstones of the Butler University strategic plan," said Butler President Bobby Fong.

The grant also provides the necessary funding to construct a Health Education Center at Butler. The center will provide space needed for the College's Healthy Horizons Lab and Drug Information Center as well as instructional laboratories for clinical assessment, health education and health literacy education.

The Purdue School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences will build upon its established strengths in industrial pharmacy and cancer drug discovery to launch several new interdisciplinary initiatives through collaborations with the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Purdue Cancer Center, Engineering Research Center, School of Industrial Engineering, Birck Center for Nanotechnology and Center for Pharmaceutical Processing Research. The latter is the only such center established by the National Science Foundation. In additions to the centers on campus, Purdue's researchers and pharmacy students also have access to the Chao Center for Industrial Pharmacy & Contract Manufacturing, an FDA certified manufacturing facility in the Purdue Research Park.

"This cross-disciplinary approach is critical to solving these complex problems. So is private support, and Lilly Endowment has made a significant stride with this generous grant," said Purdue President Martin C. Jischke.

"When errors are made in administering medicine, people suffer and the costs of care increase. We can enable our pharmacists, doctors and nurses to make the best use of their skills by improving our systems. We can make those systems better by applying many of the techniques used in industry across the world.

"We all know a person fighting against cancer who is suffering from the debilitating toxicity of chemotherapy. Thanks to nanotechnology, we can create new drug-delivery systems that will attack the disease without harming the healthy parts of the body. We can develop those systems right here, in Indiana. And the economy of our state, already a leader in pharmaceuticals, will be stronger for it."

The role of the pharmacist has expanded from dispenser to one who promotes wellness, educates patients and assumes responsibility for the optimal uses of medications, said Mary Andritz, dean of the Butler College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

"Pharmacy programs across the country are being challenged to prepare their graduates to perform to increasing standards for safety, cost efficiency and patient outcomes," she said.

Butler has hired new faculty for whom wellness issues are the primary interest and focus of their research. The university also launched the award-winning Healthy Horizons in 2004, a program that promotes health literacy and wellness to all Butler employees.

"The grant affords Butler the opportunity to further expand these programs and infuse wellness and public health concerns throughout the classroom and in experiential learning contexts," Andritz said. "The Health Education Center will help educate our students about the principles of health promotion and disease prevention, as well as furnish opportunities for practice."

Through the grant, Butler also will develop several new opportunities for students to work with diverse populations. One example includes students spending a minimum of four weeks at an experiential site in an area designated as medically underserved.

To retain and recruit first-rate pharmacy faculty, the university will develop community-based, postdoctoral pharmacy residency programs that focus on public health. They also will offer opportunities for faculty development in areas of practice or scholarship and provide the necessary start-up funds and equipment for research in the areas of public health.

"The result of this public health and wellness focus will be a larger number of pharmacists who can effectively promote health improvement as well as provide patient-centered pharmaceutical care in community pharmacies, clinics and hospitals," Andritz said. "Butler will be known for producing graduates who are leaders in wellness initiatives."

Purdue, which developed the first community pharmacy residency in the country, plans to develop community pharmacy-based models to better utilize pharmacists for early detection and management of adverse drug reactions, said Craig Svensson, dean of Purdue's College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences. It is estimated that there are 700,000 emergency room visits a year related to adverse drug reactions, and many could be prevented by early intervention.

"We also will use Purdue's Technical Assistance Program, which links Indiana companies with Purdue resources, to establish a pharmaceutical technical assistance program. This program will be the nation's first pharmacy-based expert team to provide a rapid response investigation of serious medication error events in Indiana and to provide recommendations for prevention."

Sara B. Cobb, vice president of education at the Endowment, said, "These grants further the Endowment's aims to build the state's intellectual capital and support efforts of Indiana higher education institutions to aspire to excellence. They also should complement many of the life sciences initiatives currently under way, including BioCrossroads, the efforts at Indiana colleges and universities, and life sciences enterprises."

The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences began in 1904 as the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy. In 1951 the college merged with Butler University and moved to its present location on the Butler University campus. Today the college annually graduates approximately 100 pharmacy and 50 physician assistant students. For more than 100 years, the college has served the educational needs of health care students and practitioners in Indiana, having produced more than 3,400 pharmacy graduates. The 10-year-old physician assistant program has graduated more than 150 students.

About the Purdue School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Purdue University enrolls nearly 70,000 students systemwide, including 39,000 on its West Lafayette campus. In addition to 648 Pharm. D. students, the pharmacy program has 754 undergraduates and 117 graduate students. The school has educated more than 7,000 pharmacists and 1,000 pharmaceutical scientists and educators since its establishment in 1884. Purdue pharmacy alumni and former faculty members make up about 20 percent of the nation's deans of pharmacy.

Writers: Elizabeth Gardner, (765) 494-2096, ekgardner@purdue.edu

Courtney Tuell, Butler University, (317) 940-9807, ctuell@butler.edu

Sources: Dr. Mary Andritz: (317) 940-8056, mandritz@butler.edu

Bobby Fong: (317) 940-9900, bfong@butler.edu

Martin C. Jischke, (765) 494-9708, mcjischke@purdue.edu

Craig Svensson: (765) 494-1368, svensson@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

A publication-quality photo is available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2006/lilly-pharmacygift.jpg

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