INDIANAPOLIS -- Drug-development services company Covance will buy an early-stage research center from drugmaker Eli Lilly in a 10-year service deal worth $1.6 billion.

Under the deal, Covance will pay $50 million for Eli Lilly's 450-acre early drug development campus in Greenfield. It will hire about 260 Lilly employees.

Covance also will provide Lilly with a broad range of drug-development services over the next 10 years.

"This strategic agreement is a result of a long-term trust-based relationship between our two companies,” said John Lechleiter, Eli Lilly CEO. "This industry-pioneering alliance will provide Lilly access to Covance’s broad and efficient drug development platforms."

Drug developers have been outsourcing more of their research and development work to clinical research organizations in an effort to cut and control costs.

The center will be transferred to Covance in October.

Covance has been in Indiana for more than 20 years, with facilities in Indianapolis and Evansville.