Eli Lilly to build $5 billion Virginia manufacturing facility

Hand Lilly On Tuesday, Virginia said it would spend $ 5 billion to build a production facility in Goochland County, increasing its production capacity for targeted cancer drugs and other treatments – the first in a series of newly planned US investments by the drug producer.

In February, the company announced in February to build at least 27 billion dollars to build four new domestic production facilities that have contributed to $ 23 billion in previous investments. Eli Lilly said he would announce the three US sites this year and expects to start taking medicines in four facilities in five years.

Drug producers are trying to increase their production in the United States because President Donald Trump threatens to squeeze the industry with his tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals. Trump said these taxes will encourage companies to reorganize production after a significant decrease in domestic drug production in the last decade.

In a statement on Tuesday, Eli Lilly said that the new Virginia facility will develop active ingredients for cancer and autoimmune drugs along with other advanced treatments. The company’s first special active component and pharmaceutical product site for the bioconjat platform and portfolio of monoclonal antibody drugs will be.

Eli Lilly said that the facility, especially the antibody drug conjugats, said that targeted treatments will increase local production – a monoclonal antibody is a kind of bioconjugat connecting a toxic “load” to kill cancer cells. Eli Lilly is one of the few drug companies that develop or currently market these drugs, which drug producers read in autoimmune conditions and other diseases.

“This is a new capacity to allow the pipeline growth, not both biology, but also a series of new assets to use this antibody pharmaceutical conjunctions,” Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said, “This is a new capacity to allow the pipeline growth.” He said. “This site will be unique for us to make such a drug for us – we do not have this capacity in the company at the moment – and even the drug product form, so we put it to the bottle and send.”

Ricks said that the company will carry some production from third parties and “from other nodes on our network, mostly from Europe to the new Virginia site.

Eli Lilly chose the state for the new facility “location, logistics, labor, and obviously a site ready to go”. Authorized, construction for a different industrial use in the previous years began at the facility, he said.

“Now, public services and all of these are ready to roll and we’re a little hurry to remove and run them as our pipeline progresses.” He said.

“The most important thing about building in the United States is really related to the tax status rather than the threat of drug tariffs,” he said, “more logical than ever in the United States.” Ricks before Trump 2017 tax deductions and labor law To push the company to increase US production investments.

This legislation, which was accepted by the majority-cumhurist congress in the first period of Trump The biggest tax code revision During about thirty years and other efforts, as well as decreased the corporate tax rate to 21%.

Eli Lilly, the site will use advanced technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, which will allow it to be carried out for the first time, all will support the supply of safe and reliable drugs, “he said.

The company said that the site will bring more than 650 new jobs to Virginia, including engineers, scientists, operation staff and laboratory technicians. The company said it would create 1,800 construction work in the region.

Eli Lilly’s other US plants include places in North Carolina, Indiana and Wisconsin.

New US investments, Eli Lilly’s weight loss medication Zepbound and Diabetes equivalent Mounjaro’nun based on the success of Mounjaro for the dominance of the market exploding for GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro competing for dominance Novo Nordisk. Both companies have led billions to increase their production capacity for these drugs, which help to alleviate the famine of US treatments.

However, Eli Lilly’s new investments are only available and are not dedicated to future obesity and diabetes treatments. The company draws its future from Zepbound and Mounjaro, hoping to offer drugs from a wide range of products for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions.

– Angelica Peebles from CNBC contributed to this report.