Shortly after acquiring a manufacturing site in Wisconsin, Eli Lilly intends to expand it to boost its production of injectable products, including diabetes and obesity drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound.
Eli Lilly has announced a $3bn expansion of its manufacturing facility in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, in the context of the growing demand for its diabetes and obesity drugs, as well as future medicines across other therapeutic areas.
The pharma giant acquired the Wisconsin facility in April this year from Nexus Pharmaceuticals, a company specializing in manufacturing specialty and generic drugs.
The expansion is expected to add 750 highly skilled jobs to the facility, which currently hosts over 100 workers. Construction will start next year.
Existing and future drug pipeline
“Today’s announcement represents our single largest US manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines right here in the Midwest,” said Edgardo Hernandez, executive VP and president, manufacturing operations, Eli Lilly.
“We look forward to bringing high-wage, advanced manufacturing, engineering and science jobs to people in Wisconsin, a state that is becoming a critical geography in our global manufacturing operations,” he added.
Including the acquisition and expansion of the manufacturing facility, Eli Lilly will be investing $4bn in the site. After the expansion, the facility will rely on automation to accelerate data management and medicine production, which will span manufacturing injectable medicines, device assembly and packaging.
“As a US regional tech hub, Wisconsin is a national leader in personalized medicine and biohealth, and through this partnership with Lilly, we’re going to keep advancing research and innovation and bolstering Wisconsin’s manufacturing industry, all while supporting workers, families, and patients,” commented Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.
Manufacturing footprint
The extension of the Wisconsin facility is part of a larger manufacturing strategy that Eli Lilly started in 2020.
Since then, the company has committed over $23bn to the acquisition, construction, and expansion of its manufacturing sites across the world. This overarching plan included the opening of a new facility in North Carolina in June this year, a site that is also tasked with the manufacturing of injectable products and devices. The new facility was backed by an investment totaling $2bn since construction began in 2022.
