Eli Lilly announces over $1.2B investment in Puerto Rico faciliy

Eli Lilly (LLY) announced a planned investment of more than $1.2B to expand and modernize its Lilly del Caribe manufacturing site in Carolina, Puerto Rico. This new investment will integrate advanced technologies and expand production capacity within the existing campus to support the company’s growing portfolio of oral solid medicines in cardiometabolic health, neuroscience, oncology and immunology. The enhanced facility will be among those that will manufacture orforglipron, Lilly’s first oral, small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, which the company expects to submit to global regulatory agencies for obesity by the end of this year. This strategic expansion underscores Puerto Rico’s role in Lilly’s historic manufacturing agenda as a part of the previously announced $50B capital investment commitment to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity. The company recently shared plans to build sites in Texas and Virginia, with two additional locations to be announced in the next few months. These new sites are part of Lilly’s broader efforts to expand existing U.S. manufacturing sites to increase capacity. This facility will deploy highly advanced technologies in oral solid medicine manufacturing, including dock-to-dock automation and material flow, paperless manufacturing, process analytical technology and spray-dried dispersion, which allows oral medicines to be effectively absorbed. Lilly estimates that the project will generate up to 1,000 construction jobs and 100 additional high-tech manufacturing positions. The company supports local bioscience growth by offering scholarships for students in engineering, science, technology and business administration. Construction on the expanded oral solid medicine product manufacturing facility is estimated to begin in 2026, with plans to start producing medicine by the end of 2028.