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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEli Lilly and Co.’s announcement Wednesday that it plans to invest another $4.5 billion at the LEAP Research and Innovation District in Boone County is more important than it might seem at first glance.
The Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant is now slated to spend more than $13 billion in Lebanon to create a campus across some 800 acres, making the overall development one of the largest capital projects in Indiana history, as IBJ’s John Russell reports on page 6A.
It would be easy to brush off the news. Wednesday’s announcement marked the fourth large investment in the site announced by the company in the past 2-1/2 years.
Those announcements include one just a few months ago that Lilly plans to spend $5.3 billion to enhance its capacity for diabetes treatment Mounjaro and weight-loss treatment Zepbound.
But where the previous investments were all about manufacturing, this latest announcement is about research, too.
Lilly said it plans to build a center called the Lilly Medicine Foundry, which will combine drug development with advanced manufacturing.
The expansion is expected to add 400 full-time jobs for highly skilled workers, who will include engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians.
The state of Indiana plans to support the new site with infrastructure improvements for roads, water, electricity and other utilities. The state also offered undisclosed incentives tied to Lilly’s investment and employment goals in Lebanon.
The new jobs will create “tremendous new career opportunities for Hoosiers,” as Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg said in a news release.
We agree, and we’re excited to see Lilly bringing high-paying research jobs to Boone County and the company’s home state of Indiana. Just last month, the company opened its newest research center, a sprawling 346,000-square-foot operation that cost $700 million, in Boston.
Even more exciting is that the Lebanon facility will mark the first of its kind, in which research and manufacturing is combined in a single location.
When it opens in late 2027, the foundry will allow Lilly to further develop solutions to optimize manufacturing processes and increase capacity for clinical trial medicines.
“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 Lilly CEO David Ricks in written comments. “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.”
Gov. Eric Holcomb said Lilly’s investment here solidifies our state’s role as a hub for cutting-edge science and technology.
“The LEAP district in Lebanon is quickly becoming an international destination. … LEAP and the Hardtech Corridor are attracting global leaders, talent and innovation to Indiana,” Rosenberg added.
We believe the new facility—and Lilly’s broader investments in Lebanon—help maintain Indiana as a leader of advanced manufacturing while also making it known as a state where important health care innovation is happening.
We can’t wait to see it take shape.•
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