Eli Lilly and Company has announced a pair of manufacturing expansions in Ireland, totaling $1.8 billion. The company announced a $1-billion expansion of its Limerick, Ireland, site to increase production of biologic active ingredients, including those for its recently approved treatment for early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. The company also officially opened an $800-million facility expansion in Kinsale, Ireland, which began making medicines last year (2023) to meet demand for Lilly’s latest diabetes and obesity treatments. 

Once complete, Limerick will join Lilly’s global manufacturing network producing the biologic active ingredients for the company’s Alzheimer’s disease portfolio and other biologic medicines. This new investment brings Lilly’s total Limerick investment to $2 billion, doubling the investment the company announced in March 2023. As a part of this expansion, Lilly says it will create another 150 jobs at the site, including engineers, scientists, quality assurance professionals, and operations personnel, for a total of 450 employees. Lilly initially announced the Limerick site in 2022 and broke ground in March 2023. Production of biologic active ingredients for Lilly medicines is on track to start in 2026. The Limerick investment project is subject to planning approval, and the company says it plans to submit a planning application to the Limerick City and County Council in due course. 

These new investments are part of what the company is calling its “most ambitious” manufacturing expansion agenda in the company’s history. Since 2020, Lilly has committed more than $20 billion to build, expand, and acquire manufacturing facilities in the US and Europe. 

Source: Eli Lilly and Company