An injection pen of Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug, Zepbound, is displayed in New York City on December 11, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Eli Lilly on Friday said it is investing an additional $5.3 billion in a manufacturing plant in Lebanon, Indiana, to boost supplies of its highly popular weight-loss drug Zepabound, diabetes medication Monjaro and other medicines.
Demand for these treatments far outstripped supply last year, leading to shortages in the U.S. and forcing the pharmaceutical giant to invest heavily to ramp up its manufacturing.
This new commitment brings Eli Lilly’s total investment in the site to $9 billion. This is Eli Lilly’s largest manufacturing investment in its nearly 150-year history, company CEO David Ricks said in a statement.
Eli Lilly expects the Lebanon site to begin making medicines by the end of 2026, and expand operations by 2028. The company first announced its plans to build the new site in Indiana in 2022.
The plant will specifically boost Eli Lilly’s ability to manufacture the active ingredient in Zepabound and Monjaro, called tirzepatide. The company refers to those treatments as incretin drugs, which mimic certain gut hormones to suppress a person’s appetite and control blood sugar.
“This multi-site campus will manufacture our newest medicines, including Zepbound and Monjaro, support pipeline development and leverage the latest technology and automation for maximum efficiency, safety and quality control,” Ricks said in a statement.
Eli Lilly said the site will have about 900 employees working there when it is fully operational, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and laboratory technicians.
The company has spent more than $18 billion on building, expanding and purchasing manufacturing plants in the US and Europe since 2020.
Eli Lilly has several manufacturing sites either “growing up or under construction,” Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi told investors during an earnings call last month. That includes the Lebanon plant and another site in Indiana, two locations in North Carolina, one in Ireland, one in Germany and a seventh site the company recently acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals.
Investors delighted Eli Lilly when the company raised its full-year revenue forecast by $2 billion, in part due to confidence in increased production of Zepabound, Monjaro, and other incretin drugs for the rest of the year.
“Now that we’re four months into the year, we know more about these capability centers and we feel more confident,” Ashkenazi said during the call.
