Eli Lilly has unveiled the location of the third of its four large-scale manufacturing facilities that it plans to build in the U.S.
The drugmaker has selected Huntsville, Alabama, as the site of a $6 billion plant that will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for peptide and small-molecule medicines, including the highly anticipated GLP-1 weight-loss pill, orforglipron.
Lilly plans to employ 450 at the complex, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians. The Indianapolis-based company expects to begin construction in 2026 and complete the facility in 2032. Lilly estimated that the project will also generate 3,000 construction jobs.
In September, when Lilly revealed Houston, Texas, as the location of another of its “mega sites,” the company said that the $6.5 billion API facility also would produce orforglipron.
By the end of this year, Lilly expects to submit applications for approval of the treatment with regulators. The company is preparing to compete with a familiar foe, Novo Nordisk, which is producing its pill version of obesity drug Wegovy at its facilities in North Carolina.
The new Lilly facilities—which include a $5 billion API plant near Richmond, Virginia, which was announced in September—are part of a $27 billion investment plan that the company laid out 10 months ago during a high-profile press event in Washington, D.C., dubbed “Lilly in America.”
The biopharma powerhouse will reveal the location of the last of the four manufacturing facilities in the “coming weeks,” it said.
The Huntsville site was selected from a pool of 300 applicants, Lilly said, adding that its proximity to the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, which supports bioscience workforce training and research, played a role.
“Huntsville’s track record of science and innovation, supported by advanced manufacturing expertise and a skilled workforce, makes Alabama an ideal location for Lilly to expand domestic manufacturing capacity for next‑generation medicines,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said in a Dec. 9 release. “Today’s investment continues the onshoring of active pharmaceutical ingredient production, strengthening supply chain resilience and reliable access to medicines for patients in the U.S.”
In a release, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called Lilly’s planned outlay the “largest initial investment” in state history.
Lilly is working to bolster its domestic manufacturing capacity and strengthen its supply chain. The huge outlay reflects an industry trend in which drugmakers are pouring investments into the U.S. in response to the threat of tariffs on pharmaceutical imports. President Donald Trump has said that companies that are building manufacturing facilities in the U.S. will be exempt from the import taxes.
Six weeks ago, Lilly also revealed its plan to spend $1.2 billion to upgrade its manufacturing complex in Carolina, Puerto Rico, which will produce orforglipron.
Other companies that have revealed major investment plans in the U.S. in recent months include Merck & Co., which has committed to spend $70 billion over the next five years on manufacturing, R&D and capital projects. Roche has pledged to spend $50 billion, and Johnson & Johnson has unveiled a $55 billion investment plan.