Eli Lilly and Company
09/27/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/26/2025 06:43
A new space for bold science: Lilly Gateway Labs opens in San Diego, bringing hope to patients
A new space for bold science: Lilly Gateway Labs opens in San Diego, bringing hope to patients
Sep 27, 2025|
Posted by: Eli Lilly and Company
- science
As makers of medicine, our work begins with people. Every scientific breakthrough begins with the question "how can we help?"
For Leah Stavenhagen, that question is deeply personal. Leah was just 26 when she was diagnosed with ALS-a disease with no cure and few treatment options. "I'm confident treatments will come," she says. "It's just a question of when. Time is our enemy, so we need science to move as fast as the disease does."
That urgency is what drives Lilly Gateway Labs (LGL).
Our LGL sites are more than buildings. They're best-in-class innovation hubs, designed to empower early-stage biotech companies with the space, technology and support they need to push boundaries and bring new treatments to life.
But what makes LGL truly special isn't just the state-of-the-art equipment or the world-class locations. It's the spirit of partnership and community. Here, our scientists work side-by-side with entrepreneurs, sharing expertise, learning together and building networks that are united by one goal: making life better for patients.
Time is our enemy, so we need science to move as fast as the disease does.
Leah Stavenhagen
Diagnosed with ALS at 26
Our newest site in San Diego is now open. This 82,000-square-foot facility offers flexible lab and office space for up to 15 companies and 260 scientists and staff. It joins LGL locations in San Francisco, Boston and Beijing, with more planned around the world.
LGL is part of our Catalyze360™ model, which supports biotech companies with resources and scientific expertise to turn bold ideas into life-changing medicines. Since the first site launched in 2019, LGL companies have developed more than 50 therapeutic platforms.
With the labs in San Diego already buzzing with the work of partner companies, the impact they could potentially have on people like Leah is already clear.
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Watch now
Video Transcript
[Music playing.]
[White Lilly logo animation on screen on a red background.]
00:00:05-00:00:20
LEAH STAVENHAGEN
My name is Leah Stavenhagen. And I have been living with ALS since 2019. For me it really felt like the ALS started in my feet. It moved up my body. I would also say that for me the progression was super-fast.
[Transition fades to black. Graphic caption reads "Three Years Ago." Transition fades to interview with woman in a black shirt wearing an oxygen mask sitting in a wheelchair. Man in gray sweater and blue jeans putting shoes on woman in black shirt sitting in a wheelchair. Man pushing woman in wheelchair.]
00:00:24-00:00:39
LEAH STAVENHAGEN
And it's so different for every patient. But eventually a person can no longer walk, talk, or breathe on their own. So it is quite debilitating. It's devastating because your hopes, your dreams…they disappear.
[Scenes of an autographed Lou Gehrig baseball bat and Lou Gehrig baseball jersey hanging on a door.]
00:00:41-00:00:50
LEAH STAVENHAGEN
If you think about it, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed as the better part of a century ago. But the treatment options are still the same today.
[Scenes of scientists in white lab coats and goggles in a lab. Man in a white lab coat looking into microscope.]
00:00:51-00:01:07
ANDREW ADAMS
I had a great conversation with a friend of mine who's dealing with ALS. What they want from us is to keep pushing boundaries. We constantly have to be pushing those boundaries. Not just so that we can stay at the forefront as a science and technology company, but so that we can provide meaningful solutions to people who, for some of these most difficult things, still don't have any.
00:01:08-1:16
MIKE HOROWITZ
What we try to do is understand what's going wrong with the brain's immune system in the context of these diseases. And then how do you fix it.
[Man in a blue shirt with a backpack walking into office building with a sign on door that reads "Modulo." More scientists in white lab coats in laboratory looking at computer screen.]
00:01:17-00:01:29
MIKE HOROWITZ
The beauty of the approach with the neuroimmune system is that if it works the way that we believe it will, it should stop the continued death of neurons.
[Drone aerial shot of exterior of building. Interior building sign that says "Lilly Gateway Labs powered by Alexandria." Man in a blue shirt in the lobby of building using a computer.]
00:01:30-00:01:37
MIKE HOROWITZ
We are thrilled to be part of Lilly Gateway Labs and the broader Lilly ecosystem. Being able to tap into the knowledge reservoir is a force multiplier.
00:01:38-00:01:53
ANDREW ADAMS
In our industry, most of the easy problems at this point have been solved. There is no low-hanging fruit or medium-hanging fruit anymore. We're constantly out there talking to the biotech ecosystem, talking academics, figuring out better ways to do the things that we do to make even better medicines.
00:01:54-00:02:06
MIKE HOROWITZ
The rising tide lifts all boats. And for me, it's exciting because those boats are filled with patients. And so, the rising tide is just going to benefit patients so much more.
00:02:07-00:02:18
LEAH STAVENHAGEN
I feel confident that further treatments are on the horizon, but the issue is it just takes a long time. Time is our enemy. So, we want them to move as fast as the disease progresses.
[White Lilly logo appears on red background.]
[Music fades in the background.]
Eli Lilly and Company published this content on September 27, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on September 26, 2025 at 12:43 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]