Eli Lilly plans to pour more than more than $850 million into its research laboratories and manufacturing facilities across the country—a capital investment spree that includes a multi-million dollar expansion of a site that makes the delivery device for a top-selling diabetes drug.
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly (NYSE: [[ticker:LLY]]) unveiled the plans with government officials this morning. The announcement comes as President Trump continues to press U.S. companies in all industries to bring jobs back to the United States. Lilly CEO David Ricks was among a group of pharmaceutical company executives who met with the president in January to discuss drug prices, regulation, and other industry issues.
Lilly owns 13 production and distribution sites in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to the company’s annual report. Lilly says it is embarking on a five-year capital investment plan intended to to upgrade its U.S. manufacturing sites for diabetes products and add new capacity. Included in this morning’s announcement was the dedication of a $140 million insulin cartridge production site.
Lilly also says it is committing to an $85 million expansion of a facility that makes the drug delivery device for diabetes drug dulaglutide (Trulicity). The once weekly injectable drug is self-administered by a patient with a disposable pen injection device that comes pre-filled with the drug. In 2016, dulaglutide accounted for more than $925 million of Lilly’s $21.2 billion revenue, according to company filings.
Over the last five years, the company says it has invested more than $1 billion to support its U.S. diabetes manufacturing operations and added more than 1,000 workers. But the capital spending announcement comes as Lilly is set to implement companywide layoffs. Those job cuts are related to the failure of Alzheimer’s disease drug solanezumab in clinical trials late last year. In January, Lilly confirmed that it would lay off nearly 500 workers in the unit that worked on that drug. Those layoffs were slated to begin on March 31, according to the Indianapolis Star.
Photo by Flickr user Paul Sableman via a Creative Commons license.
