Eli Lilly Is Building a New Plant in Germany as Weight-Loss Drug Demand Surges

Eli Lilly
is building a manufacturing plant in Germany to help it meet demand for obesity and diabetes drugs, among others.

Lilly
(ticker: LLY) said on Friday that the $2.5 billion manufacturing site will expand the pharmaceutical company’s capacity to produce injectable drugs. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2027.

“This state-of-the-art parenteral site with the latest technology will enable us to continue to deliver medicines with safety first and quality always around the world,” Edgardo Hernandez, president of manufacturing operations, said in the news release.

Lilly’s Mounjaro and
Novo Nordisk
‘s (NVO) Ozempic, approved as diabetes treatments, have become hot-ticket items as weight-loss drugs. Of Lilly’s total $9.5 billion in third-quarter revenue, $1.41 billion came from Mounjaro alone.

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration approved Lilly’s drug Zepbound as an obesity treatment.

Excitement about potential sales has lifted Lilly stock by 61% this year. Shares were up 0.7% in premarket trading Friday to $593. The
S&P 500
was 0.2% higher.

Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]

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