Eli Lilly CEO David A. Ricks speaks during a press conference at Generation Park in Houston, Monday, September 23, 2025. The company announced plans to build a $6.5 billion biomanufacturing plant north of Houston. (Raquel Natalichio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Raquel Natalichio | Houston Chronicle | Getty Images
Eli Lilly The company announced Tuesday it will spend $6 billion to build a manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama, to help expand production of its high-profile experimental obesity drug and other drugs.
This is the third facility in a series of new U.S. investment plans by the pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly announced in February that it would spend at least $27 billion to build four new manufacturing plants in the country, adding to its previous $23 billion investment since 2020.
The company said it expects construction of the Alabama plant to begin in 2026 and be completed in 2032.
“This investment will continue to domesticate active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production, strengthen supply chain resiliency and strengthen reliable access to medicines for U.S. patients,” David Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, said in a release.
The addition of production capacity for Eli Lilly’s obesity drug olforglipron is critical as the company seeks to accelerate regulatory filings and maintain its lead in the rapidly growing GLP-1 market. The company and its main rival, Novo Nordisk, have faced shortages in their existing weekly shots in recent years as demand soared in the U.S., but they have managed to ease those problems.
Eli Lilly’s pill won a priority review voucher from the Food and Drug Administration in November, which could significantly shorten the regulatory agency’s evaluation of the drug to just a few months.
Pharmaceutical companies are scrambling to increase production in the United States following President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on medicines imported into the country. But concerns about the possibility of such tariffs have eased following a recent drug price agreement with President Trump that exempted companies from the levy.
Eli Lilly said the Alabama plant will bring 450 jobs, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and laboratory technicians, and 3,000 construction-related jobs to the region.
