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Dive Brief:
- Eli Lilly & Co. will invest an additional $4.5 billion in two of its three manufacturing sites in Lebanon, Ind., to meet growing demand for its gene therapies and weight-loss drugs, the pharmaceutical giant said Wednesday.
- Lilly plans to bring new process designs and technologies to its active pharmaceutical ingredient factory that will open next year. including the ability to produce its first FDA-approved daily weight loss pill, Foundayo, according to a press release.
- The Indianapolis-based company also plans to expand its advanced therapies facility, which opened this week. Lilly said the additional investment brings its total capital expansion commitments in Indiana to more than $21 billion over the past six years.
Diving knowledge:
Lilly has been at the forefront of the relocation wave in the United States, spending billions of dollars over the past year on its domestic manufacturing footprint to meet growing demand for weight-loss drugs.
Since September, the company has committed more than $16 billion to building three facilities that will make injectable or oral weight loss treatments in Houston; Huntsville, Alabama; i Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The sites are expected to be operational by 2031 at the latest.
Lilly said it moved forward with the additional investment in Lebanon because of its “evolving turnaround” and “anticipated demand for its medicines.”
Once completed, Lilly Lebanon API will the injectable drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro for weight control and type 2 diabetes, respectively, according to a press release. It will also produce Foundayo and retatrutide, an advanced-stage triple hormone receptor agonist targeting obesity and cardiometabolic disease.
“It will be the largest API production site in U.S. history,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said in a statement.
Beyond API, Lilly Lebanon’s new advanced therapies facility will support the clinical and commercial production of therapies that “target disease at the genetic level,” the company said. The Lilly Medicine Foundrya manufacturing, research and development center focused on scaling drug production, will open next year.
The three facilities will be located in Indiana’s LEAP Research and Innovation District, a Economic development project of more than 9,000 acres with major tenants such as Cummins, Elanco, Corteva and Roche.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation did not immediately respond to a request for the types of incentives Lilly qualifies for with its manufacturing projects in Lebanon.
