After Mufengda® (Tirzepatide Injection) was approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA),On May 24, Eli Lilly and Company announced againLeban, Indiana Manufacturing SiteAdditional Investment of $5.3 Billion`, compared to before`More than double,Increase the company's total investment in this production base from $3.7 billion to $9 billion.This expansion will increase Eli Lilly's production capacity for the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) of Zepbound® injection and Mounjaro® injection.tirzepatideThe ability, thereby enabling more adults suffering from chronic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes to benefit from these important treatments.

The Lebanon manufacturing site is expected to add approximately 200 jobs – primarily engineering, operations, and lab technician roles – bringing the total number employed at the site to approximately 900. Eli Lilly and Company also anticipates that more than 5,000 construction jobs will be required during the development phase.

Since the groundbreaking of the Lebanon production base in 2023, Eli Lilly and Company has turned a significant portion of the nearly 600-acre complex into an active construction site. The company expects to begin pharmaceutical production in Lebanon by the end of 2026 and scale up operations by 2028.

Since 2020, Eli Lilly and Company has invested more than $16 billion in developing new production facilities in the United States and Europe. New production sites outside of Indiana include Research Triangle Park and Concor in North Carolina, Limerick in Ireland, and Alzey in Germany. Additionally, the company has allocated an additional $1.2 billion to upgrade its existing production facilities in Indianapolis and recently acquired an injectable manufacturing plant in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, from Nexus Pharmaceuticals.These production investments total more than 18 billion US dollars.

IntirzepatideDriven by the research results, Eli Lilly and Company began to significantly expand its production scale in 2020. The company took a strategic investment risk with this decision in order to be able to supply respectively after Mounjaro (2022) and Zepbound (2023) were approved.Type 2 diabetes and obesity adult patients provide these drugs.According to data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug shortage database, Mounjaro and Zepbound have been in short supply due to high demand.The strong demand for these two drugs highlights the urgent need for treatment options among patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity.

David A. Ricks, Chairman and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company, said"Today's announcement represents the largest production investment in our company's history, and we believe it is also the largest investment in the manufacturing of synthetic drug active pharmaceutical ingredients in U.S. history. This multi-site campus will produce our latest medicines, including Zepbound and Mounjaro, support pipeline growth, and leverage the latest technology and automation to achieve the highest levels of efficiency, safety, and quality control. Importantly, we are investing in our home state of Indiana, creating high-paying, advanced manufacturing, engineering, and scientific jobs for hundreds of current and future Indiana families."

In February 2024, during its fourth-quarter earnings call, Eli Lilly and Company indicated that it is seeking to increase investment in production. Its rival in the weight-loss drug market, Novo Nordisk, has also made significant investments in manufacturing, including spending $16.5 billion to acquire contract manufacturer Catalent and transferring three production facilities to the company to boost its GLP-1 output.

Summary

TirzepatideIt is the world's first and currently the only approved GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist.With the approval of tirzepatide, researchers have gradually shifted their focus to the GLP-1/GIP dual-target direction.CurrentlyGLP-1/GIP Entering Clinical Stage GloballyDual-target AgonistMore than 10 products. Among them, the highest clinical stage for domestic varieties is Phase II clinical trials. The main R&D companies include BrightGene Bio-Medical, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, Fujian Shengdi Medicine (a subsidiary of Hengrui), and Huadong Medicine, etc.; foreign companies mainly include Eli Lilly and Company.Amgen, Carmot Therapeutics, etc.

Reference: Company Announcement

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