In Southeastern Wisconsin, Eli Lilly and Company will invest $3 billion to expand a Kenosha County manufacturing facility it acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals Inc. earlier this year. Lilly expects to add 750 jobs to the location’s current 130-plus workforce. The company plans to start construction on the expansion next year, creating an expected 2,000 construction jobs.
With this investment, Lilly will extend its global parenteral (injectable) product manufacturing network to help meet growing demand for its diabetes, obesity, and future pipeline medicines across therapeutic areas.
“Today’s announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines right here in the Midwest,” said Executive Vice President and President of Lilly Manufacturing Operations Edgardo Hernandez. “We look forward to bringing high-wage, advanced manufacturing, engineering and science jobs to people in Wisconsin, a state that is becoming a critical geography in our global manufacturing operations.”
In 2019, Nexus Pharmaceuticals selected Pleasant Prairie as the location for its first sterile drug manufacturing facility — the first such facility built in the U.S. in more than 30 years. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) provided $1.5 million in performance-based tax credits to help build the $100 million, 84,000-square-foot Kenosha County facility, which officially opened in 2021. Earlier this year, Lilly announced it was acquiring the manufacturing facility from Nexus. The acquisition, expansion, and additional purchases of land and the adjacent warehouse in Pleasant Prairie bring Lilly’s total planned investment in Wisconsin to $4 billion. Since 2020, Lilly has invested more than $23 billion to build, expand, and acquire manufacturing sites worldwide.
Lilly will use advanced automation, including guided vehicles, robotics, and production equipment, to accelerate medicine production. From data management to operations, digital automation will be embedded throughout the site to accelerate processes and increase accuracy, allowing employees to focus on making safe, high-quality medicines. Lilly also aims to advance innovation in pharmaceutical manufacturing by fostering partnerships with local higher education institutions and supporting various community initiatives in Southeastern Wisconsin.
“Southeastern Wisconsin has seen tremendous growth over the past year with major companies announcing significant expansions, and we are thrilled to add Lilly to that growing list with their $3 billion expansion that will add 750 highly-skilled, family-supporting jobs to Kenosha County,” said Governor Tony Evers. “As a U.S. Regional Tech Hub, Wisconsin is a national leader in personalized medicine and biohealth, and through this partnership with Lilly, we’re going to keep advancing research and innovation and bolstering Wisconsin’s manufacturing industry, all while supporting workers, families, and patients across the state and the world.”
Earlier this year, Wisconsin was selected as a U.S. Regional Tech Hub by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. This unlocked $49 million to grow the state’s personalized medicine and biohealth sector, including advancing research and innovation. The designation will allow Wisconsin’s consortium of 18 public and private partners organized by the Evers Administration through WEDC to boost research and expand lab space, increase coordination and collaboration, improve access to capital to start and grow businesses, and further build out the personalized medicine and biohealth technology sector. Over the first 10 years, the Biohealth Tech Hub designation is projected to create more than 30,000 jobs in the personalized medicine sector and over 111,000 indirect jobs in Wisconsin. The Tech Hub is projected to create $9 billion worth of economic development in Wisconsin within the first decade.
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“Wisconsin’s status as a Regional Tech Hub in biohealth makes it a perfect fit for an innovative, blue-chip company like Eli Lilly,” said WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes. “WEDC worked closely with Eli Lilly to meet its site selection and workforce needs, and we look forward to partnering with them to ensure their success in our state.”
