Eli Lilly and Company and Purdue University are keeping their partnership alive beyond it’s previously expected years.

In an announcement made Friday, Lilly said they will invest up to $250 million through the “Lilly-Purdue 360” initiative over the next eight years. Officials close to the deal said this partnership has the potential to be the largest ever industry-academic agreement in the United States.

“As potentially the largest single university-industry research agreement in American history, Lilly and Purdue are blazing a new trail to the endless frontier,” Purdue University President Mung Chiang said in a release. “We thank Lilly for its pioneering impact on health and medicine in our society and for what is now the largest single research funding, from public or private capital, in Purdue’s history.”

The new partnership means the initiative will last through 2032 instead of 2027 when an earlier agreement was expected to expire. As part of the collaboration, Lilly researchers will use space made available to them in West Lafayette while some Purdue researchers will work at Lilly’s Indianapolis facilities in the LEAP Research and Innovation District.

“Accelerating the delivery of life-changing medicines demands a highly skilled workforce and continuous innovation across discovery, process development and manufacturing,” said Lilly’s chair and CEO David A. Ricks. “Through this expanded collaboration with Purdue, we look forward to combining our strengths in advanced technologies and cutting-edge science to pioneer new methods of delivering next-generation medicines to advance human health.”

Already existing joint programs like the Lilly Scholars at Purdue and the Lilly and Purdue Research Alliance Center will continue too.