Indiana-based Eli Lilly is making the single biggest U.S. investment in synthetic medicine manufacturing at a new state business park in Lebanon, Ind.
The $9 billion will create 900 jobs at the LEAP research park almost midway along the I-65 corridor between Indianapolis and Lafayette, home to Purdue University.
The state has assembled 9,000 acres for research and advanced technology businesses. Lilly was the first to break ground last year, recently announcing an expansion, which will create 5,000 construction jobs.
The campus will comprise 600 acres and begin production in 2026, “scaling up” through 2028, according to a company release. The corporation declined further comment.
The campus layout includes a collection of multi-storey buildings interconnected with process piping assemblies, storage tanks aand transport bays.
The 150-year-old company is on an investment roll, having announced $18 billion in new or renovated facilities since 2020 at its campuses around the world. That includes $1.2 billion in hometown Indianapolis.
The investment will expand Lilly’s ability to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients for Zepbound (tirzepatide) injection and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) injection. These drugs are for adults with chronic diseases like obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Not only is this the largest investment in synthetic drug manufacturing but it’s Lilly’s largest investment ever.
“Importantly, we are investing in our home state of Indiana, creating high-wage, advanced manufacturing, engineering and science jobs for hundreds of current and future Hoosier families,” Lilly’s chair and CEO David Ricks said in a statement.
The permanent jobs include those for engineers, scientists, lab technicians and operating personnel.
Lilly announced the expansion in 2020 was “at risk” prior to regulatory approval.
“Since then, the strong demand for these medicines – the only approved treatments activating two incretin hormone receptors, GIP and GLP-1 – underscores the urgent unmet need for treatments in both Type 2 diabetes and obesity,” the company says.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said the state attributes the investment to its “leadership” in developing sites like the LEAP Research and Innovation District.
The state is assisting the campus through an undisclosed investment in roads and services and economic incentives tied to employment objectives. It will also construct a research and training center for the LEAP campus, enhancing its relationships with Purdue and Ivy Tech Community College, the state’s community college system.
Lilly is positioned in the far northeastern section of the park bookended by the CSX rail corridor and I-65. Other of the 20-some LEAP sites range from 50 acres to 1,540 and include a new mixed-use urban “village.”
According to Erin Sweitzer, spokeswoman for the Indiana Development Corp., LEAP will allow the state to “target transformational and high-tech investments from companies in a variety of future-focused sectors like life sciences, advanced manufacturing, microelectronics, energy storage and generation.”
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