Announcing the submission of a marketing application for its experimental weight loss drug, orforglipron, in China, Eli Lilly (LLY) said on Wednesday that it plans to invest $3B in the country over the next decade to expand its supply chain capacity there.
In a statement on the Chinese social media site WeChat, the Indiana-based drugmaker said that a major component of the investment is building the local production capacity for its pipeline, including orforglipron.
The company added that it filed a marketing application for the once-daily GLP-1 drug with the National Medical Products Administration late last year.
Concurrently, Lilly (LLY) announced a collaboration with Beijing-based contract research and manufacturing firm Pharmaron to invest $200M to enhance its technological capabilities.
Orforglipron, a competitor to Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) recently launched oral weight loss therapy, the Wegovy pill, is currently undergoing FDA review in the U.S. and is on track for a potential approval in Q2 2026.