Lilly to shell out $4.5 billion on new production site

Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) today announced a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development.

According to the US pharma major, this unique facility will give Lilly the ability to research new ways of producing medicines, while also scaling up manufacturing of medicines for clinical trials. The first-ever facility of its kind, combining research and manufacturing in a single location, the Medicine Foundry will be located in Indiana's LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon, Indiana, and will expand the company's investment there to more than $13 billion.

"As we accelerate our work to discover new medicines for the toughest diseases, we're continuing to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure to support our growing pipeline," said David Ricks, Lilly's chairman and chief executive. "In addition to supplying high-quality medicine for our clinical studies, this new complex will further strengthen our process development and scale up our manufacturing capabilities to speed delivery of next-generation medicines to patients around the world," he noted.