Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. plans to build a $6.5 billion manufacturing plant at Houston’s Generation Park. More than 300 locations in the U.S. competed for the factory.
The Houston site will be the first major pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Texas, according to the Greater Houston Partnership.
Lilly said it plans to hire 615 full-time workers for the 236-acre plant, including engineers, scientists and lab technicians. The company will collaborate with local colleges and universities to help build its talent pipeline.
The plant will also generate an estimated 4,000 construction jobs.
Lilly said every dollar it spends in the Houston area will contribute an additional $4 to the local economy.
“This is a transformative moment for the Houston region and our life sciences industry,” Steve Kean, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, said in a release. “The Lilly project represents one of the largest for-profit life sciences investments in Texas history and is a powerful endorsement of Houston’s growing position as a global hub for innovation, advanced manufacturing, and biomedical excellence.”
The factory, expected to go online by 2030, will make small-molecule medicines for fields such as oncology, immunology and neuroscience. Perhaps most notably, the site will manufacture orforglipron, Lilly’s first oral small-molecule GLP-1 medicine for treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The drug is currently undergoing clinical trials.
“Our new Houston site will enhance Lilly’s ability to manufacture orforglipron at scale and, if approved, help fulfill the medicine’s potential as a metabolic health treatment for tens of millions of people worldwide who prefer the ease of a pill that can be taken without food and water restrictions,” David Ricks, chairman and CEO of Lilly, said in a release.
The company said it chose Generation Park, a 4,300-acre, master-planned commercial district near Lake Houston, because of factors such as financial incentives, access to utilities and transportation, and the region’s business-friendly environment. Generation Park is home to campuses for San Jacinto College and Lone Star College.
The plant will be outfitted with machine learning, AI, advanced data analytics, digital automation, and similar tools to streamline operations, Lilly said.
