Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY) plans to spend $4.5 billion U.S. to build a state-of-the-art facility to research and manufacture current and future medications.
The facility, to be called the “Lilly Medicine Foundry,” will develop and produce new prescription drugs and focus on achieving operational efficiencies, said the company.
The foundry will also produce drugs for future clinical trials. Management said the facility will be the first to combine research and production in one location.
Eli Lilly’s new facility is scheduled to open in 2027 and will be equipped to make genetic medicines. It will be situated next to a $9 billion U.S. manufacturing complex Eli Lilly is building in Indiana.
The new research and manufacturing site is being built as sales of the company’s diabetes and weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound takeoff.
Mounjaro and Zepbound are expected to generate $50 billion U.S. in sales by 2028, nearly double the company’s entire revenue in 2022.
Management said the strong sales give the company more capital to invest in future discoveries and operations.
Eli Lilly is on track to become the first trillion-dollar healthcare company after its stock soared nearly 64% over the past 12 months, giving it a market capitalization of $840 billion U.S.
The stock of Eli Lilly currently trades at $884.48 U.S. per share.
