Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) on Tuesday announced plans to build a new production plant in Houston, Texas, at an investment of $6.5B to manufacture small molecule medicines, including its oral weight loss therapy, orforglipron.
The proposed site, located at Generation Park in Houston, Texas, is the second of four manufacturing facilities the company has pledged to announce this year as part of its $50B commitment to U.S. capital expansion made since 2020.
Last week, the Indiana-based pharma giant announced plans to invest $5B to build a new manufacturing facility in Virginia to produce, among other things, antibody-drug conjugates, a new class of antibody drugs.
The Texas site will create more than 4,600 manufacturing and construction jobs, Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) said, adding that once it’s operational within five years, it will add 615 new high-wage jobs in the area.
The announcement comes at a time when Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) and its rival (NVO) are leaning on oral weight loss drugs to power their next phase of growth. Novo’s (NVO) oral version of its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy is currently under FDA review, and LLY plans to seek regulatory approval for orforglipron by the end of this year.