Eli Lilly and Co. plans to bolster its domestic medicine production with a $27B investment in four new U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing sites, bringing its total capital commitment to future expansion to more than $50B.
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The company is negotiating with several states on locations for the new sites and will be taking proposals through March 12, it said in a press release.
Lilly expects to create more than 3,000 jobs for highly skilled workers at the four sites, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians. The company also anticipates it could create nearly 10,000 construction jobs during development.
“We are not just building facilities,” said Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations, in the release. “We are creating a future where American innovation leads the world in pharmaceutical manufacturing, requiring a highly skilled workforce prepared to shape the future of health care.”
Lilly prefers sites that are no further than 5 miles from a major interstate or state highway equivalent, according to an information form. Additionally, site operation will be nonstop and require fully uninterruptible power, according to the form.
The announcement comes within a week of President Donald Trump meeting with chief executives from major drugmakers, including Lilly CEO David Ricks, to discuss industry concerns such as tariffs on drug imports, Reuters reported.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said Wednesday that Lilly was doing “exactly what the President was hoping would happen,” according to the outlet.
Ricks said in the press release that Trump's first-term policies were crucial in enabling Lilly's U.S. investment, calling the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act legislation passed in 2017 “foundational to Lilly's domestic manufacturing investments.”
“It is essential that these policies are extended this year,” Ricks said in the release. “We believe that our investments in America and upskilling our nation's workforce will spark a significant ripple effect.”
The company spent $23B on domestic sites from 2020 to 2024, including locations in North Carolina, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Lilly expects to announce all four future site locations this year. It anticipates facilities will begin making medicines for patients within five years.
