Lilly breaks ground on $4.5 billion R&D facility

BOONE COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) — Gov. Mike Braun and Eli Lilly officials broke ground Tuesday on one of the first major projects for the LEAP District.

Company officials said the Lilly Medicine Foundry will support about 400 jobs when it is completed in 2027. The facility will consist of seven buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet and cost about $4.5 billion. Scientists there will both research new medicines and manufacture them for use in clinical trials, focusing in particular on molecular therapies, cell-based medicines and genetic medicines.

“This will be a place where molecules, like ingots of metal, are turned into tools to help conquer disease,” Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said. “Lilly has 10 sites in the United States under construction and will soon announce four more. When all are completed, all of Lilly’s U.S. products will be produced domestically with export capacity to spare”

Braun said that high school students who earn the Employment Honors Plus seal can get their foot in the door with an interview at the Lilly Medicine Foundry.

So far, the vast majority of the investments in the LEAP District have come from Lilly. The company has invested about $13 billion in the site to date, a sum company officials have said is the largest single investment in active pharmaceutical ingredients production in U.S. history. Company officials first announced the foundry in October.

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