Eli Lilly and Company announced a planned investment of more than $1.2 billion to expand and modernize its Lilly del Caribe manufacturing site in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The investment will integrate advanced technologies and expand production capacity within the existing campus, which has operated for sixty years. The expanded facility will support Lilly’s portfolio of oral solid medicines across cardiometabolic health, neuroscience, oncology, and immunology, and will be among the sites that manufacture orforglipron, Lilly’s first oral, small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist. Construction is estimated to begin in 2026, with medicine production planned to start by the end of 2028.
What it means
The expansion will add 100 high-tech manufacturing positions at the Carolina site, according to Lilly, along with an estimated 1,000 construction jobs during the build phase. Technologies to be deployed include dock-to-dock automation and material flow, paperless manufacturing, process analytical technology, and spray-dried dispersion. Lilly said it expects to submit orforglipron to global regulatory agencies for obesity by the end of 2025; the Carolina facility is identified as one of the sites that will produce that medicine once the expanded capacity comes online.
The Puerto Rico investment is part of Lilly’s previously announced $50 billion capital investment commitment to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity. The company said it recently shared plans to build sites in Texas and Virginia, and that two additional U.S. site locations will be announced in the next few months. Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon said the expansion “reflects the very essence of our public policy, which is to position Puerto Rico as a strategic hub for advanced manufacturing, innovation and national economic security.”
Key facts
- Investment: more than $1.2 billion (according to the company)
- Site: Lilly del Caribe, Carolina, Puerto Rico — in operation for 60 years
- Manufacturing jobs to be added: 100 high-tech positions (according to the company)
- Construction jobs estimated: up to 1,000
- Construction start: estimated 2026
- Medicine production start: planned by end of 2028
- Orforglipron regulatory submission for obesity: expected by end of 2025
- Total Lilly U.S. manufacturing capital investment commitment: $50 billion (previously announced)
- Additional U.S. site locations to be announced: 2, within the next few months
Source: Eli Lilly and Company news release (PR Newswire)