An injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly's weight loss drug, is displayed in New York City on December 11, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Eli Lilly announced Friday that the company is investing an additional $5.3 billion in a manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Indiana, to boost supplies of its hugely popular weight-loss drug Zepbound, diabetes drug Mounjaro and other drugs.
Demand for these treatments far exceeded supply last year, leading to shortages in the US and forcing the pharmaceutical giant to invest heavily in expanding its production.
With this new commitment, Eli Lilly's total investment in the site will be $9 billion. This is Eli Lilly's largest manufacturing investment in its nearly 150-year history, CEO David Ricks said in a statement.
Eli Lilly expects the Lebanon site to begin drug production in late 2026 and expand operations by 2028. The company first announced its plans to build new sites in Indiana in 2022.
The facility will increase Eli Lilly's capacity to manufacture the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro, tirzepatide. The company calls these treatments incretin drugs that mimic certain gut hormones to suppress a person's appetite and regulate blood sugar.
“At this multi-site campus, we will manufacture our newest medicines, including Zepbound and Mounjaro, support the growth of our product line, and utilize the latest technology and automation for maximum efficiency, safety and quality control,” Ricks said in a statement.
Eli Lilly said the site will be staffed by 900 employees, including engineers, scientists, operations staff and laboratory technicians, once it is fully operational.
The company has spent more than $18 billion since 2020 to build, expand and purchase manufacturing facilities in the United States and Europe.
Eli Lilly has several manufacturing sites that are either “ramping up or under construction,” Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi told investors during a conference call last month. They include the Lebanon plant and another site in Indiana, two sites in North Carolina, one in Ireland, one in Germany and a seventh site the company recently acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals.
Investors cheered Eli Lilly after the company raised its full-year sales forecast by $2 billion, partly on confidence in increased production of Zepbound, Mounjaro and other incretin drugs for the rest of the year.
“Now that we are four months into the year, we have better insight into these capacity nodes and feel more confident,” Ashkenazi said during the conference call.
