Eli Lilly has revealed the location of the first of four large-scale manufacturing facilities that it plans to build in the U.S. The company has selected Goochland County, Virginia, as the site of a $5 billion plant that will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients.
The facility is part of a $27 billion investment plan that the Indianapolis drugmaker laid out nearly seven months ago during a high-profile press event in Washington, D.C., dubbed “Lilly in America.”
The company expects to break ground this year on each of the new plants, which Lilly calls “mega sites.”
Lilly's move to bolster its domestic capacity and strengthen its supply chain reflects a broader industry trend in which drugmakers have poured billions of investment dollars into the U.S. in response to the growing threat of tariffs on pharmaceutical products imported from foreign countries.
“By expanding our domestic capacity, we’re building a secure, resilient supply chain that delivers for patients today and supports the breakthrough medicines of tomorrow,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said in a press release.
Goochland County sits on the northwest edge of Virginia’s capital city of Richmond. Lilly plans to employ 650 at the facility, while another 1,800 workers are expected to participate in its construction. The company anticipates that all four of the new U.S. sites will be operational within five years.
Lilly describes the Virginia plant as its first “dedicated, fully integrated” API and drug product facility for the company’s bioconjugate platform and monoclonal antibody portfolio. The company has said it plans to manufacture antibody-drug conjugates alongside other products at the up-and-coming site.
“This isn’t just another manufacturing site—it represents a significant milestone for Lilly as we begin building our first bioconjugate facility,” Edgardo Hernandez, Lilly’s chief of manufacturing operations, said in a statement. “With this cutting-edge site, Lilly is setting a new benchmark in bioconjugate innovation, advancing technologies that will expand what’s possible for patients.”
The site selection marks the second big score for Virginia this summer. In July, AstraZeneca announced that it would build a massive $4 billion drug substance manufacturing facility in the state as part of a $50 billion U.S. investment pledge by the company.
Three weeks ago, the Richmond-Times Dispatch revealed that lawmakers in Virginia had approved separate economic development packages, each for more than $10 million, for AZ and Lilly to build their plants. AZ’s deal covers a site near Charlottesville, which is home to the University of Virginia and is 70 miles northwest of Richmond.
In addition to the economic incentives, Lilly chose Goochland County from “hundreds” of applications, the company said, because of the “workforce potential” in the area plus “ready access to utilities and transportation and favorable zoning.”
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin added in Lilly's release that the state is positioning itself “to lead in the industries that will drive innovation for generations to come.”
Other companies that have revealed massive investment plans in the U.S. in recent months include Roche, which has pledged to spend $50 billion, and Johnson & Johnson, which has unveiled a $55 billion plan that includes bolstering its medtech business. Meanwhile, Sanofi and Novartis have committed to spend at least $20 billion each in the U.S. by the end of the decade.