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Dive Brief:
- Eli Lilly announced plans to invest more than $6 billion to build a manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama, focused on weight loss drugs and other pharmaceutical ingredients.
- The site will manufacture orforglipron, Lilly’s first oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, which the company expects to submit to regulatory agencies later this year, according to a news release.
- The factory is expected to bring 450 jobs to the area, including engineers, scientists, operations staff and laboratory technicians. The works will start next year and will generate 3,000 jobs related to the project.
Diving knowledge:
The Huntsville facility is the third of four U.S. manufacturing facilities that Lilly will build as part of a broader $50 billion pledge to bolster domestic drug production. In September, the company unveiled plans to build one 5 billion dollar factory out of Richmond, Virginia, ia $6.5 billion facility in Houston over the next five years.
Lilly said it chose the Greenbrier South Industrial Park in Huntsville out of more than 300 applications, in part because of its proximity to the HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnologya campus that supports workforce training and research. The company also considered the location’s access to utilities, transportation, favorable zoning and incentives.
Lilly received two state tax incentives for its project, including a $23.7 million job credit and an $85.9 million investment credit, the Alabama Daily News reported. The Alabama Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Huntsville’s track record of science and innovation, supported by advanced manufacturing expertise and a skilled workforce, makes Alabama an ideal location for Lilly to expand domestic manufacturing capacity for next-generation medicines,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said in a statement.
Lilly said it will leverage the plant’s “state-of-the-art” technologies, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics and digital automation, to “streamline” operations and ensure a safe supply of medicines.
In addition to building new drug factories, Lilly spends more $1.2 billion to expand its manufacturing site in Carolina, Puerto Rico, and to increase capacity for its oral solid medications. The company plans to produce its GLP-1 agonist in Puerto Rico, as well as new facilities in Houston and Huntsville. The Richmond facility will manufacture ingredients for cancer and autoimmune treatments.
Lilly said it will unveil its fourth U.S. manufacturing site in the coming weeks.
