Eli Lilly is digging into its pockets again soon after injecting $1B into new factory for injectables in North Carolina a few months ago. This time around Eli Lilly is splurging on the expansion of its manufacturing site.
Lilly is eyeing two manufacturing sites that will set them back $2.1B. Sites will be located at Boone County in Indiana, in LEAP Lebanon Innovation and Research District, as the state calls it now. Headquarters of Lilly are located in Indianapolis.
The expansion will help Eli Lilly cater to the increasing demand for its drugs, both current and those to be developed in the future. Expansion is also projected to expand the company’s network for new modalities as well as active ingredients.
While talking about their new facilities, Eli Lilly mentioned their approvals for seventeen new drugs in the last eight years, which also includes the latest tirzepatide, called Mounjaro.
Adding to the 3,700 employees already working for Eli Lilly in Indiana, the new sites will see the company hire an additional 500 new employees, taking the total over 4,000 in the state.
David Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, stated that the company is still devoted to innovating and investing in the state of Indiana even after 146 years since inception. He also said that the expansion will ensure more capacity to aid in the company’s expanding distribution of innovative medicinal products, and create jobs for the locals.
Prior to this expansion plan, Eli Lilly revealed an expansion in Indiana three years ago. After the expansion the company spent a lot of money on research and manufacturing in the area of Indianapolis. With an average spent of $0.5B per year for the following 5 years, a lot of manufacturing jobs were created.
Company estimates 1,500 construction jobs while the sites are being built. For this project, Eli Lilly aims to partner with a few companies, one of which is Indiana Economic Development Corporation. According to Eli Lilly, each new partner may create “an additional four indirect jobs”.
Eli Lilly has been investing a lot of money in its production facilities outside of Indiana as well. Company said it was investing nearly $445M in Limerick, Ireland, on a new ingredients plant.
Soon after investing in Limerick, Eli Lilly made the aforementioned $1B investment in Concord, North Carolina. That injectibles site is projected to see a hiring of 600 new employees. The construction on that site will take a few years to complete, starting 2022. The company forecasts further investments in the site in the future catering to foreseen growth from potential medicines that would be developed to remedy cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune conditions and diabetes.
David Ricks criticized the home state of Indiana before investing in it. While giving a speech at The Economic Club of Indiana, Ricks reportedly mentioned that the state’s education attainment is not up to the mark. He further disapproved the life and health conditions in the state. Additionally, workforce preparedness was also mentioned as a liability and something that could improve. Ricks also mentioned that the healthcare costs of the state were higher than neighbor states. Having said that, Ricks has still invested a lot of expansion money on the state and created a handful of jobs while at it.
