HOUSTON — Global pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) has officially broken ground on its $6.5 billion manufacturing facility in northeast Houston. The 1 million-square-foot project will serve as the newest active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility, where the company will primarily produce Foundayo, Lilly’s first synthetic oral GLP-1 weight loss medicine.
The site is located within Generation Park, a 4,300-acre master-planned development in Harris County. The master developer, locally based McCord Development, began pursuing life sciences users at the park in 2023 before securing Lilly last fall.
Lilly expects to create 600 high-paying jobs at the new plant, including engineers, scientists and lab technicians who will implement technologies including machine learning, AI, digitally integrated systems and advanced data analytics.
The project is also expected to create 4,000 temporary construction jobs during its development. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attended the groundbreaking ceremony that took place yesterday.
“Lilly’s $6.5 billion capital investment expands our healthcare dominance in the Lone Star State,” said Abbott. “Strategic investments like this one strengthen our global supply chain for healthcare and medicines right here in Texas.”
The Generation Park facility is one of five domestic API manufacturing facilities announced by Lilly since 2020. Other API facilities include those in Richmond, Va.; Huntsville, Ala.; and two in Lebanon, Ind. Additionally, the Houston project is one of 10 U.S. manufacturing facilities underway currently for Lilly.
In addition to Foundayo, which is currently under regulatory review in more than 40 countries, Lilly will manufacture other small-molecule medicines and advanced therapeutics including oligonucleotides, which Lilly defines as “a class of medicines that can work at the genetic level to switch off the production of specific proteins to treat disease.”
Lilly is studying Foundayo for other uses beyond weight loss, including type 2 diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea. A full global roll-out of the GLP-1 receptor medicine is expected in 2027, according to Lilly.
As part of the Generation Park development, Lilly is providing $12.5 million to nearby San Jacinto College to build a talent pipeline and the previously announced workforce training center at Generation Park, as well as a $2.5 million charitable donation to the San Jacinto College Foundation to support scholarships for eligible students.
Lilly’s stock price closed on Monday, Sept. 21 at $1,164.89 per share, up from $754.95 a year ago, a 54.3 percent increase.
— John Nelson