PLEASANT PRAIRIE, WIS. — Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) has unveiled plans for a $3 billion expansion of the company’s pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Pleasant Prairie, located 37.5 miles south of Milwaukee. Lilly acquired the facility from Nexus Pharmaceuticals in April 2024. The Indianapolis-based company plans to start construction on the expansion next year.
The expanded facility will focus on the production of injectable medicines, device assembly and packaging for medicines across numerous therapeutic areas. Lilly plans to implement automated features such as guided vehicles, robotics and production equipment in order to accelerate and increase the accuracy of medicine production.
Lilly expects to add 750 jobs to the workforce at the facility, which currently comprises about 100 individuals. New jobs at the location will include operators, technicians, engineers and scientists. Additionally, the company states that more than 2,000 construction jobs will be created during the project’s development.
“Today’s announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines right here in the Midwest,” said Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations.
Lilly states that the acquisition, expansion and additional purchases of land and the adjacent warehouse brings the company’s total planned investment in Wisconsin to $4 billion. Since 2020, Lilly has committed approximately $23 billion to construct, expand and acquire manufacturing sites worldwide, including plants in Indiana and North Carolina’s Research Triangle area.
The company’s stock price closed on Thursday, Dec. 5 at $825.62 per share, up from $589.25 a year ago, a more than 40 percent increase.
— Channing Hamilton