Lilly names Pennsylvania site for its latest US facility

Eli Lilly has revealed the fourth new manufacturing site in its $27 billion capital investment spree in the US – a $3.5 billion facility in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

The company said the site will be used to make Lilly's new generation of weight-loss medicines – including triple agonist retatrutide, which recently generated impressive weight loss in its first phase 3 readout – as well as other injectable medicines and devices.

Retatrutide – which targets GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon – is due to be submitted for FDA approval later this year, setting up a possible launch in late 2026 or early 2027.

A year ago, Lilly promised to build four new manufacturing facilities in the US at a cost of around $27 billion in response to the threat of tariffs on medicines made elsewhere by the Trump administration, so the Lehigh Valley plant rounds out that commitment.

The company has also announced plans to build facilities in Virginia, Texas, and Alabama, which are focused on the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), in keeping with a US drive to reduce the pharma industry's use of imported APIs from China and other countries around the world.

The new Pennsylvania site, in Fogelsville, is expected to employ around 850 engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians, according to Lilly, as well as around 2,800 construction jobs. It was selected from 300 potential sites due to its proximity to STEM universities, its technical manufacturing economy, and its existing infrastructure.

Work on the facility, which Lilly said will deploy "advanced technologies, including AI, machine learning, integrated monitoring, and data analytics," is due to start later this year and has a scheduled completion date of 2031.

The company's chief executive, David Ricks, said the plant is designed to meet "increasing demand" for weight-loss medicines, which are predicted to become a $100 billion-plus market in the coming years.

Lilly is already making blockbuster sales with its dual GLP-1/GIP agonist Zepbound (tirzepatide), and is in the final weeks of regulatory review in the US for its oral GLP-1 agonist orforglipron, which will compete with Novo Nordisk's already-marketed oral version of GLP-1 agonist Wegovy (semaglutide) if approved.

Lilly will make orforglipron at the $6.5 billion Houston, Texas and $6 billion Huntsville, Alabama sites, as well as a recently unveiled new $3 billion facility in the Netherlands. Its other new facility – a $5 billion plant in Goochland, Virginia – will produce monoclonal antibodies and bioconjugates, including antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) products.