Eli Lilly and Company said it plans to invest more than $6 billion in a new manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama. This synthetic medicine active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) facility, the third of four new U.S. sites Lilly plans to announce, will produce small molecule synthetic and peptide medicines.
The site will be among those that will manufacture orforglipron, Lilly's first oral, small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, which the company expects to submit to global regulatory agencies for obesity by the end of this year.
Lilly will bring 450 jobs to the area, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians. Construction, expected to begin in 2026, is anticipated to generate 3,000 construction jobs as the facility is built. Completion is expected in 2032.
The Greenbrier South, Huntsville, Alabama site was selected from more than 300 applications, partly based on its proximity to the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a bioscience campus that supports workforce training and research.
Lilly plans to use technologies including machine learning, AI, digitally integrated monitoring systems and advanced data analytics at the facility. Digital automation will be embedded throughout the site to streamline operations.
Earlier this year, Lilly announced plans to bolster its domestic medicine production across therapeutic areas. The company recently revealed plans to build sites in Texas and Virginia and to expand an existing manufacturing site in Puerto Rico. Another U.S. location will be announced in the coming weeks.
