Lilly invests $3 billion to expand Wisconsin plant as obesity drug demand soars

By Patrick Wingrove

(Reuters) – Eli Lilly (NYSE:) said on Thursday it will invest $3 billion to expand the manufacturing plant it bought in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin earlier this year, as it scrambles to meet soaring demand for its weight-loss and diabetes drugs.

The new investment in the factory, which it acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals, will help boost production of Lilly’s powerful weight-loss drug Zepbound as well as its diabetes treatments and other medicines, the company said.

“Today’s announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines,” said Edgardo Hernandez, Lilly’s president of global manufacturing.

Zepbound and Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro, both known chemically as tirzepatide, were in shortage in the U.S. for much of this year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed tirzepatide from its shortage list earlier this year but is reconsidering that decision following a lawsuit from an industry group representing compounding pharmacies that make and sell versions of the drug not approved by the FDA.

Zepbound was introduced in the U.S. in late 2023. More than 5.2 million prescriptions have since been written for the drug, according to data from IQVIA shared by an analyst.

Lilly said it has committed a total of more than $23 billion to building, expanding and buying manufacturing sites since 2020. The acquisition, expansion, and additional purchases of land and the adjacent warehouse in Wisconsin bring Lilly’s total planned investment in the site to $4 billion, it said.

Lilly, which has become the world’s most valuable healthcare company worth over $790 billion, said it plans to start construction on the expansion next year, and previously said it expects production at the facility to begin at the end of 2025.

The company said it expects to add 750 jobs to the Wisconsin plant, which already has more than 100, including operators, technicians, engineers and scientists.

Danish rival Novo Nordisk (NYSE:) has also invested billions in manufacturing to ramp up supply of its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy, announcing it would take over three sites from contract manufacturer Catalent (NYSE:) for $11 billion earlier this year.