Eli Lilly Chairman and CEO Dave Ricks speaks at a press conference in Houston on September 23, 2025.
Antranik Tabitian | Reuters
Eli Lilly announced Friday that it will spend more than $3.5 billion to build a manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley that will help make the next generation of obesity drugs.
That includes a closely monitored experimental drug called letaltortide, which in late-stage trials showed the highest weight loss of any treatment to date.
This is the fourth facility in a series of new U.S. investment plans by the pharmaceutical giant. Lilly announced in February 2025 that it would spend at least $27 billion to build new manufacturing facilities in the country, adding to its previous investment of $23 billion since 2020.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said Lilly CEO Dave Ricks had told him that Lilly aims to build six factories in the United States, but Lilly has not confirmed those plans.
The company said Friday that it expects construction of the Pennsylvania plant to begin this year and begin operations in 2031.
Additional production capacity for future weight loss treatments is critical. Retatortide is seen as a key pillar of Lilly’s long-term obesity strategy, following the popular injectable drug Zepbound and upcoming obesity treatments.
Some health experts say letaltortide could reach severely obese patients who would benefit from even more weight loss than existing injections because it works by targeting three gut hormones instead of one or two. Lilly plans to release data from seven other Phase 3 trials of the drug this year.
The company and its biggest rival novo nordiskhas invested heavily in increasing production capacity after previously facing supply shortages for its existing weekly injections in the United States.
Preparing an adequate supply of upcoming medicines is also central to Lilly’s efforts to maintain its advantage in the rapidly growing GLP-1 market. Last year, the company overtook Novo and secured a majority share in this field for the first time.
But a Danish drugmaker hopes to close the gap this month with the launch of its first-ever obesity drug, GLP-1 tablets, which have already attracted thousands of prescriptions in the United States. Lilly has its own pill, Orforglipron, which could win approval and be released later this year.
President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on medicines imported into the United States has spurred drug companies to ramp up production in the United States. But concerns about the possibility of such tariffs have allayed in recent months with a voluntary drug price agreement with President Trump that exempted companies including both Lilly and Novo from tariffs for three years.
Eli Lilly said the Pennsylvania location will bring 850 jobs to the region, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and laboratory technicians, as well as 2,000 construction-related jobs.
