Eli Lilly is building a $6 billion manufacturing plant in Alabama
Eli Lilly CEO David A. Ricks speaks at a press conference at Generation Park in Houston on Monday, September 23, 2025. The company announced plans for a $6.5 billion biomanufacturing facility north of Houston. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Raquel Natalicchio | Houston Chronicle | Getty Images
Eli Lilly announced Tuesday that it will spend $6 billion to build a manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama, to boost production of its highly publicized experimental obesity pill and other drugs.
It is the third facility in a series of new planned U.S. investments by the drugmaker. Eli Lilly said in February it would spend at least $27 billion to build four new domestic manufacturing facilities, adding to $23 billion in previous investments since 2020.
The company expects construction of the Alabama plant to begin in 2026 and be completed in 2032.
“Today’s investment will continue to outsource active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production, strengthen supply chain resiliency and ensure reliable access to medicines for patients in the U.S.,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said in a press release.
This additional production capacity for Eli Lilly’s obesity pill orforglipron is critical as the company rushes to gain approval and try to assert its dominance in the booming GLP-1 market. The company and its main rival Novo Nordisk have faced supply shortages of their existing weekly injections after U.S. demand soared in recent years. However, they managed to alleviate these problems.
Eli Lily’s pill received a priority review voucher from the Food and Drug Administration in November, which will significantly shorten the regulator’s assessment of the drug to perhaps several months.
Following President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on medicines imported into the US, drugmakers have been scrambling to boost production in the US. But concerns about these potential tariffs have eased following recent drug pricing deals with Trump that exempt companies from the duties.
Eli Lilly said the Alabama site will create 450 jobs in the region, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and laboratory technicians, as well as 3,000 construction jobs.
