Rendering of Eli Lilly’s manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas.
Courtesy: Eli Lily
Eli Lily On Tuesday, he said $6.5 billion was spent on building a manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas, boosting the production of a pipeline of so-called small molecule drugs, including closely monitored experimental obesity drugs.
This is the second in a new planned US investment by drugmakers. Eli Lilly announced in February that it would spend at least $27 billion to build four new domestic manufacturing plants, adding to its $23 billion investment since 2020.
Eli Lily said she will be unveiling the two remaining US sites this year. The company plans to start manufacturing medicines at all four facilities within five years.
The addition of the production capacity of Orforglipron, the obesity pill from Eli Lilly, is important as the company tries to bring it to the market and maintain control in the booming market of GLP-1. With Eli Lily Novo Nordisk Previously, demand surged in the US faced supply constraints on existing weekly injections
“Our new Houston site will help Lily improve her ability to manufacture large-scale orgriprons and fulfill the potential of a drug as a treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes in millions of people around the world who prefer pills that can be taken without food or water restrictions, if approved.”
Drugmakers have been rushing to boost production in the US as President Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs on drugs imported into the US. These taxes say they encourage companies to resupply production after a dramatic reduction in domestic drug manufacturing over the past decade.
In a release Tuesday, Eli Lilly said the new Houston plant will focus on the production of other small molecule drugs across a range of disease areas, including psychometabolic health, oncology, immunology and neuroscience. Small molecule drugs, often offered in tablet form, are more convenient for patients than injectable drugs, and are generally easier and cheaper to manufacture on scale.
Eli Lilly said the site brings 615 jobs to the Greater Houston area, including highly skilled engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab engineers, and includes 4,000 construction jobs.
