Lilly Breaks Ground on $3.5 Billion Pennsylvania Medicine Plant
Lilly broke ground on a Lehigh Valley plant for injectable medicines, including the investigational obesity treatment retatrutide. The company expects 850 jobs and operations by 2031.
Eli Lilly and Company broke ground Thursday on a $3.5 billion manufacturing facility in Fogelsville, in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.
The company said the site will make injectable medicines, including retatrutide, an investigational once-weekly obesity treatment, and is expected to be operational by 2031. Retatrutide has not been approved for general use.
Lilly said the plant will create 850 jobs for engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians, along with about 2,000 construction jobs. The company also plans to provide up to $1 million over five years to the Upper Macungie Township Community Fund for a nutrition and healthy-living program.
The plant is the latest of 10 new U.S. manufacturing sites Lilly has announced since 2020 and part of its $50 billion plan to expand U.S. medicine production.
Thursday's event marks the start of construction, not a newly operating factory. Lilly previously announced the Pennsylvania project, and the 2031 opening remains a company target.