Eli Lilly recently went public with $5 billion plans invest in a new manufacturing facility in Goochland County, Virginia. This important investment will help expand the nation’s production capacity for targeted, cancer-fighting drugs and other breakthrough therapies. The new site is a significant step in Eli Lilly’s manufacturing plans that include increasing their domestic manufacturing capacity overall.
The announcement comes after a commitment the company made back in February. In the announcement, they further pledged to invest at least $27 billion with an aim of setting up four new manufacturing plants around the United States. Eli Lilly has recently opened a new headquarters in Virginia. This effort is meant to expand their manufacturing capacity, particularly for bioconjugate platforms and monoclonal antibody drugs.
The new facility will be chiefly aimed at developing new active ingredients for cancer therapies and treatments for autoimmune diseases. This will mark Eli Lilly’s first wholly-owned site for active ingredients. It will further center around drug products associated with its bioconjugate platform. This facility will provide more than 650 permanent jobs to the diverse local workforce. It will provide good jobs for engineers, scientists, operations staff, and laboratory technicians. Construction of the project will create around 1,800 construction jobs in the area during the construction phase of the project.
Eli Lilly President and CEO, David Ricks, pointed to several factors that are pushing the decision to construct the new facility in Virginia. He added that the tax environment had a big part to play in this decision.
“The main thing about building in America was really related to the tax situation,” – David Ricks
Additionally, he doubled down on the fact that there has never been a better time to invest in U.S.-based manufacturing.
“It makes more sense to build in the U.S. than ever before,” – David Ricks
Ricks continued on to say that the new facility would be pivotal in giving Eli Lilly the capacity needed to manufacture their growing pipeline of products.
“This is new capacity to allow for pipeline growth. We’ve got a number of new assets coming that will use both biologics but also these antibody drug conjugates,” – David Ricks
The urgency behind this move comes from the quickly evolving state of Eli Lilly’s pipeline. Ricks pointed out that utilities and other required infrastructure are already in place, which is a signal of the company’s intention to speed up the construction timeline.
“Now, utilities and all those things are all ready to roll, and we’re in a bit of a hurry to get these up and running as our pipeline is advancing,” – David Ricks
The Virginia facility will be critical to producing harm-reduction treatment for Eli Lilly’s patients. It will increase to cover medicines beyond the current obesity and diabetes treatments, such as Zepbound and Mounjaro. The company is currently seeking to expand its effect on other conditions, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Ricks explained that this site would have some special capabilities that aren’t really possible within Eli Lilly’s currently capped infrastructure.
“This site will be unique in that we’ll be able to make that kind of medicine for us — we don’t currently have that capacity in the company — and even put it in the drug product form, so into the vial and ship it,” – David Ricks
We’re thrilled that Eli Lilly has such ambitious intentions! In addition to the Virginia site, they will announce three more domestic locations for new advanced manufacturing plants later this year. This expansion reflects Eli Lilly’s ambitious goal of establishing a robust manufacturing network that can adapt to the evolving pharmaceutical landscape.
In fact, since 2020, Eli Lilly has invested $23 billion in various commercial developments. This investment is truly representative of their robust commitment to cultivating innovation and growth in the pharmaceutical sector. The company’s focus on expanding its production capabilities aligns with its strategic vision of delivering effective treatments derived from its extensive pipeline.