The new plants will be built in the United States over the next five years, creating 3,000 jobs for skilled workers.
Eli Lily plans to spend at least $27 billion to build four new manufacturing plants in the United States, saying drugmakers are tackling the threat of drug import obligations from the Trump administration.
The new factory is expected to be built over the next five years and create more than 3,000 jobs for skilled workers, including engineers and scientists, with 10,000 construction jobs said at a Washington press conference on Wednesday.
Lily said she will announce the site’s location later this year.
The announcement comes less than a week after US President Donald Trump met with CEOs of major drugmakers, including Lily CEO David Licks, to discuss industry concerns such as tariffs over drug imports.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said at a press conference that Lily was “just exactly what the president wanted.”
Rix said he hoped the government would exempt medical supplies from potential tariffs and continue to pursue further tax reform.
The CEO said in a statement earlier Wednesday that the tax compensation laws introduced during Trump’s first term were the basis for drugmakers’ domestic manufacturing investments.
We will support domestic manufacturing
Campaigned on a promise to boost domestic manufacturing, Trump has put pressure on drug makers since he took office to move medical production to the US. He proposed last week that a 25% obligation could be imposed on drugs and other imports.
Other sectors have also announced manufacturing. Earlier this week, Apple said it would spend $500 million in the US over the next four years, but analysts said it includes current commitments to some of its current commitments.
According to the office of US Trade Representatives, the United States and its major trading partners have agreed to the mutual tariff removal of drugs and chemicals used in drug production for the past 30 years.
Trump has yet to rule them out, despite telling Republicans at the White House meeting earlier this month that he is considering such an exemption.
In response to questions about the layoffs of federal employees at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the CEO said Lilly’s fees were headed towards agency fundraising staff, saying the company would be concerned if those funds were “directed towards something else.”
Lily, the world’s most valuable healthcare company, said it’s worth more than $855 million, but since 2020 it has already committed $23 billion to boost its US manufacturing footprint.
Three of Lily’s new plants will be used to manufacture raw ingredients in the drug, while the fourth will produce injectable drugs, the drugmaker said.
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