Eli Lilly and Co. announced a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development. This facility will give Lilly the ability to research new ways of producing medicines, while also scaling up manufacturing of medicines for clinical trials. The first-ever facility of its kind, combining research and manufacturing in a single location, the Medicine Foundry will be located in Indiana's LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon, IN, and will expand the company's investment there 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."
The flexible design of this new facility will enable production of various molecular therapies, including drug substances for small molecules, biologics and nucleic acid therapies. New technologies developed at the Medicine Foundry will be transferred to Lilly's other manufacturing sites for full-scale production. The site's location in LEAP will support close collaboration with Lilly Research Laboratories' teams in Indianapolis and Lilly's manufacturing sites in Lebanon.
The State of Indiana will support the new site with infrastructure improvements for roads, water, electricity and other utilities. The state will also offer economic incentives tied to Lilly's investment and employment goals in Lebanon. Once fully operational, the Medicine Foundry is expected to add 400 full-time jobs for highly skilled workers including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians.
This new facility will add to Lilly's previous manufacturing commitments in Lebanon:
- In May 2022, Lilly announced plans to invest $2.1 billion in two new manufacturing sites in Lebanon to expand its network for active ingredients and new modalities, such as genetic medicines.
- In April 2023, Lilly broke ground on these facilities and announced an additional $1.6 billion investment.
- In May 2024, Lilly announced an additional $5.3 billion commitment to enhance capacity to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients for its latest diabetes and obesity medicines. This milestone marked the largest single investment in active pharmaceutical ingredients production in U.S. history.