$2.1 Billion Eli Lilly Expansion to Add 500 New Jobs in Indiana

BioSpace

Eli Lilly is expanding its footprint in Indiana through a $2.1 billion investment. The Indianapolis-based company will use those funds to build two new manufacturing sites at Indiana’s LEAP Lebanon Innovation and Research District in Boone County, located near the center of the state.

Eli Lilly said the new facilities will expand its manufacturing network for active ingredients and new therapeutic modalities. Those new modalities include genetic medications, the company noted. The investment also represents Eli Lilly’s dedication to bolstering its portfolio of potentially life-changing treatments, it said in a Wednesday afternoon press release.

The new Indiana-based manufacturing sites are also expected to bolster the company’s capabilities to produce its current portfolio of approved diabetes drugs, including Mounjaro (tirzepatide), which was approved earlier this month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under Priority Review to improve blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes patients. Lilly noted that the sites will support development of current products, as well as four new potential drugs the company hopes to bring to market over the next two years.

“These new sites will support increased demand for existing Lilly products and play a key role in bringing Lilly’s robust clinical pipeline to patients around the world,” the company said.

David Ricks, chairman and chief executive officer of Eli Lilly, said the new sites will increase the company’s capacity to support its growing portfolio of medications. Additionally, the new manufacturing facilities will allow Lilly to offer more high-tech jobs, he said.

When the two new sites are up and running, Eli Lilly predicted the project will create up to 500 new jobs. The company noted that for every full-time job created, there is also the expectation of four indirect jobs, based on industry data. Construction efforts will employ approximately 1,500 people, the company added. Eli Lilly currently has about 3,700 manufacturing employees in Indiana. Just in the last three years, the company has invested about $2.5 billion in the Indianapolis area.

Michael Vi/Shutterstock

For Eli Lilly, the new manufacturing sites are the first significant expansions in Indiana since 2019. That year, the company announced a $400 million manufacturing investment that supported upgrades to its active ingredient, syringe filling, device assembly and packaging operations. Eli Lilly added an additional 100 employees with that expansion.

Two years before that, in 2017, the company announced an investment of $72 million to expand insulin manufacturing in Indianapolis. That expansion was part of an overall $850 million investment program in the United States set up that year.

“Lilly has been an anchor in Indiana’s economy for generations, and this announcement means they will continue to be here for generations,” Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb said in a statement. “I am incredibly proud Lilly continues to make exciting investments in Indiana that will better the lives and opportunities of Hoosiers for decades to come. And in turn, the very research and pharmaceutical manufacturing spearheaded here in our state will improve lives worldwide.”