Lilly pledges $27 billion for four new US plants, three making drug ingredients

Eli Lilly announced on Feb. 26, 2025 that it will build four new manufacturing sites in the United States, an investment reported at $27 billion that pushes the company's total US capital commitments since 2020 past $50 billion ^[1][2][4]. The company made the announcement at a press conference in Washington, D.C. ^[1][2].

Lilly's release did not put a dollar figure on the four new sites; CNBC and CNN reported the new spending at $27 billion, described as "at least" that amount ^[2][4]. Lilly said its earlier commitments from 2020 through 2024 totaled $23 billion and are counted inside the $50 billion total ^[1][3]. The company described the plan as the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing investment in US history ^[1][2].

Three of the four sites will make active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and bring small-molecule chemical synthesis back to the US, Lilly said ^[1]. CNBC reported those three will make active ingredients for medicines such as tirzepatide, the molecule in Lilly's Zepbound and Mounjaro ^[2]. The fourth site will extend Lilly's network for future injectable therapies ^[1][3]. CEO David Ricks said at the event that there is a "real gap in supply chain in the U.S. as it relates to active ingredient availability in our country" ^[2]. He told CNN that "it's dangerous for our country to have offshored production for whole types of technology like small-molecule synthesis, which is really not happening in our country at all anymore" ^[4].

Lilly expects the sites to create more than 3,000 jobs for engineers, scientists, operations staff and lab technicians, plus nearly 10,000 construction jobs during building ^[1][3]. CNN reported the combined figure as 13,000 jobs ^[4].

Locations are not settled. Lilly said it is negotiating with several states and welcomes interest by March 12, 2025, and expects to announce all four locations during 2025 ^[1][3]. CNBC reported the deadline as March 13 ^[2]. Lilly said the facilities should begin making medicines for patients within five years ^[1][3].

The announcement carried political context. Trump administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, spoke at the event, and Lutnick tied the investment to the administration's reshoring push ^[2]. CNN reported that President Donald Trump said this month he planned tariffs of about 25% on goods including pharmaceuticals starting as early as April 2, and warned drug executives to move production to the US ^[4]. Ricks tied the plan to renewal of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, telling CNN that without those policies, "We'd have to re-look at the whole thing" ^[4].

Ricks also said Lilly's plants are "running 24/7, 365" to keep up with demand ^[4], and criticized what he called an influx of counterfeit and compounded medications ^[2]. The FDA has declared the tirzepatide shortage over, which will bar many compounding pharmacies from making copies ^[2].

Why it matters for patients

Zepbound and Mounjaro, along with Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy, spent about two years on the FDA's shortage list before the tirzepatide shortage was declared resolved ^[2][4]. The new plants are aimed at future demand, and Lilly says they will not start making medicines for roughly five years ^[1][3]. The announcement does not include a date for new capacity to reach pharmacies, and no supply effect in the near term has been disclosed.

Nothing in the announcement says what the added capacity would mean for the price of Zepbound or Mounjaro. That has not been disclosed.

What happens next

Lilly is accepting state submissions through March 12, 2025 ^[1][3], a date CNBC reported as March 13 ^[2]. The company expects to name all four sites during 2025 and says the plants will begin making medicines within five years ^[1][3]. Separately, Ricks told CNN that late-stage trial results for orforglipron, an oral drug in development, were expected "in the next three months or so" from Feb. 26 ^[4].