May 6 (Reuters) – Eli Lilly said on Wednesday it would invest $4.5 billion more across two of its three manufacturing sites in Indiana, bringing the U.S. drugmaker’s total capital expansion commitments in the state since 2020 to more than $21 billion.
The additional investment aims to support planned production of Foundayo, Lilly’s newly approved once-daily oral weight-loss pill, and retatrutide, its next-generation obesity candidate in late-stage development.
Since last year, global drugmakers have been ramping up U.S. manufacturing and stockpiling inventory as the Trump administration moves to impose 100% tariffs on branded drugs unless companies cut prices or make medicines domestically.
Lilly said the latest investment would incorporate new process designs and technologies at one of its future active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) sites and at its first dedicated genetic medicine manufacturing facility.
Its newly opened Lebanon Advanced Therapies facility will support both clinical and commercial production of genetic medicines from research-stage development through large-scale commercial supply.
The site is the first of three planned on the Lebanon campus, which will also include Lilly Lebanon API and the Lilly Medicine Foundry.
“When our Lebanon API site opens in 2027, it will be the largest API production site in U.S. history, a commitment we chose to build here, at home,” said CEO David Ricks.
Lilly’s U.S. capital expansion commitments since 2020 total more than $50 billion. It plans to break ground on several of its recently announced U.S. manufacturing sites this year.
Separately, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that Lilly is looking to sell about $8 billion of bonds as part of an effort to fund its acquisition spree.
Lilly has spent more than $30 billion in deals this year, according to Dealogic data, as large drugmakers look to diversify their portfolio and boost their pipelines ahead of upcoming patent losses.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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