Eli Lilly expands manufacturing facilities in Ireland with $1.8bn investment
Eli Lilly has announced an expansion of its manufacturing site in Limerick, Ireland. The $1 billion extension is intended to increase the production capacity of biologic active ingredients, including its newly approved Alzheimer’s therapy Kinsula (donanemab).
In addition, the big pharma company will be investing $800 million into expanding another manufacturing facility in Kinsale, Ireland, which started functioning last year with the goal of meeting the rapidly growing demand for Eli Lilly’s diabetes and obesity treatments.
These investments are part of Lilly’s manufacturing expansion agenda, the largest for the company so far, with over $20 billion being invested since 2020 into building, expanding and acquiring manufacturing facilities in the US and Europe.
"These investments will boost the production of some of our medicines, helping millions of people with diabetes, obesity and Alzheimer's disease live the healthiest lives possible," said Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations. "We won't stop there — these state-of-the-art facilities will also be equipped to support our promising pipeline molecules of the future."
The announcement brings Eli Lilly’s investment in its Limerick facilities up to $2 billion, doubling the initial investment that the company announced in March last year. Once complete, the facilities will be producing the active ingredients for Lilly’s portfolio of Alzheimer’s disease treatments as well as other biologic medicines. The manufacturing site will be equipped with machine learning technology and automated robotics, and is expected to create 450 positions. The company expects to start production of biologic active ingredients at the Limerick site in 2026.
The expansion of the Kinsale site comes right after the facilities opened last week. According to the company, this facility “is pivotal to maintaining the safe and reliable supply of Lilly’s diabetes and obesity medications.” Earlier this year, Lilly faced a supply shortage for its blockbuster GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound as demand for this drug class has been rapidly growing in recent years.
Lilly will be implementing environmental and sustainability programs in all its Ireland sites. The Kinsale site owns and is partly powered by the largest privately owned solar farm in Ireland. The Limerick site, once open, is expected to operate with 35% lower energy intensity, use 40% less water and generate 15% less waste than traditional manufacturing processes in the biopharmaceutical industry.
