Eli Lilly opens new $4.5B pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Indiana

Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) announced today that it made a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry in Indiana.

The new center offers capabilities for advanced manufacturing and drug development. Lilly expects to gain new ways to produce medicines while also scaling up manufacturing of medicines for clinical trials. Its first-of-its-kind facility combines research and manufacturing in a single location at Indiana’s LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon. This increases Indianapolis-based Lilly’s investment in the area to more than $13 billion.

“As we accelerate our work to discover new medicines for the toughest diseases, we’re continuing to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure to support our growing pipeline,” said David A. Ricks, Lilly’s chair and CEO. “In addition to supplying high-quality medicine for our clinical studies, this new complex will further strengthen our process development and scale up our manufacturing capabilities to speed delivery of next-generation medicines to patients around the world.”

Lilly expects the Medicine Foundry to allow it to further develop innovative solutions to optimize manufacturing processes and increase capacity for clinical trial medicines. Additionally, it anticipates reduced costs and environmental impact.

The flexibility of the new facility could also enable the production of various molecular therapies. That includes drug substances for small molecules, biologics and nucleic acid therapies. New technology developed at the Medicine Foundry will also be transferred to Lilly’s other manufacturing sites for full-scale production.

Lilly says the state of Indiana intends to support the new site with infrastructure improvements for roads, water, electricity and other utilities. It also plans to offer economic incentives tied to Lilly’s investment and employment goals in Lebanon.

Once fully operational, Lilly expects the Medicine Foundry to add 400 full-time jobs for highly-skilled workers. Those include engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians.

Lilly’s previous manufacturing commitments in Lebanon include $2.1 billion for two new sites in 2022, groundbreaking on those facilities in 2023, plus an additional $1.6 billion investment, then another $5.3 billion commitment in May of this year.