Eli Lilly and Co. announced on Wednesday, Oct. 2 that the company intends to invest an additional $4.5 billion at its manufacturing site at the LEAP Innovation District in Lebanon to create a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development.
The additional investment is poised to bring Lilly’s total investment in the Lebanon site to $13 billion, marking its spot as one of the largest capital projects in Indiana history. The announcement for the additional investment marks the fourth large investment into the site announced by the pharmaceutical company within the past 2.5 years.
The new center is expected to be named the Lilly Medicine Foundry, and it will be designed to give the pharmaceutical maker the ability to research new means of producing medicines while also increasing the manufacturing of medicines for clinical trials.
The company has estimated that an additional 400 full-time jobs for highly-skilled workers will be created with the introduction of the new center, which include careers for engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians. In a written comment, Lilly CEO David Ricks explained the thought processes behind the additional investment in Lebanon.
“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,” Ricks wrote. “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.”
In the press conference held on Wednesday, Oct. 2, Ricks and company leaders commented that the foundry is expected to allow Lilly to further develop solutions to optimize manufacturing processes and increase capacity for clinical trial medicines, but the foundry is not intended to run full-scale production of medicines.
The company stated that the new technologies developed at the foundry in Lebanon will be transferred to other manufacturing sites under Lilly to proceed toward full-scale production, and the technologies expected to be enabled are various molecular therapies, including drug substances for small molecules, biologics and nucleic acid therapies, the company stated.
The foundry is scheduled to open in late 2027.
Lilly broke ground on the LEAP District in 2023, and 2024 saw hundreds of construction workers on the site developing the farmland into an industrial complex. Earlier additional investments within the past 2.5 years have included further funding for the construction and equipment for buildings that will produce pharmaceutical ingredients for Lilly’s products, which include Mounjaro, a diabetes treatment, Zepbound, an obesity treatment, and cell and gene therapies.
With the latest investment, Lilly is expected to expand the 600-acre sit to an approximate 800-acres to include the foundry. According to the plans for the site, the foundry will be constructed as a standalone facility composed of seven main buildings, but the company has not yet decided the exact position on the site where the foundry will be located.
In an attempt to aid in addressing concerns over the availability of water for the site, the Citizens Energy Group and Lebanon Utilities departments were reportedly approved last month for loans from the State Revolving Fund to support the expansion of water service to the district. Citizens Energy Group was reportedly approved for $200 million in loans while Lebanon Utilities was reportedly approved for $125 million in loans. According to Citizens Energy, the extension of its system is projected to provide up to 25 million additional gallons of water per day to the district.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation aided in infrastructure work in the area by providing $45 million for the improvement projects, including roadwork and utilities surrounding the district.
– Photo courtesy of The City of Lebanon.