Partnerships between academic psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry: the Lilly MAP Initiative.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between academic psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on a partnership between academics in Melbourne and Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly Melbourne Academic Psychiatry). CONCLUSIONS: Relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession (including psychiatry) are under scrutiny as never before. Despite the complex nature of the relationship, the present paper argues that partnerships with external corporations such as pharmaceutical companies are of increasing importance for academic departments of psychiatry and research institutes, in environments in which core funding for tertiary institutes is being reduced. The partnership between Melbourne psychiatric academics and Eli Lilly and Company shows that benefits accrue to both parties, and suggests that there is a worthwhile place for other industry- academic collaborations of a similar nature in Australia.