The US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly wants to build a new production facility for medications such as diabetes in Rhineland-Palatinate with more than two billion euros. The new location in Alzey near Mainz should be built from 2024, announced Eli Lilly Vice President Edgardo Hernandez on Friday in Berlin. The costs of the planned production facility amounted to 2.5 billion dollars (around 2.3 billion euros). Up to 1,000 people will be employed there, said Hernandez.
An additional 1,900 jobs would be created during the construction phase. With the planned production facility in Alzey, Lilly wants to expand its network of locations for injectable medications and the associated injection pens. Hernandez said one criterion for the settlement is a good pharmaceutical infrastructure in the region. There is therefore hope to find enough skilled workers. There will then be a total of six Lilly production facilities in Europe. The company’s portfolio for medications against obesity, i.e. severe overweight, should be expanded. The production is intended for global sales, said Hernandez. He didn’t want to give any sales forecasts.
There is currently a gold rush atmosphere in the pharmaceutical industry, especially in the slimming injection business, in which Eli Lilly is involved. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) praised: “It’s a big exclamation mark that’s being made here.” Eli Lilly’s investment is one of the largest microeconomic decisions in Germany in this area. Habeck emphasized that the company was establishing itself without government investment. It fits in with other investment decisions by the pharmaceutical industry and strengthens medical sovereignty in Germany and Europe.
Habeck and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) emphasized that one reason for the investment decision was the integration with other players in the research and development landscape. According to Habeck, Germany is a highly innovative location. Germany has had very good basic science and engineering for years. “We want to go to the next level now,” said Lauterbach. A medical research law should simplify investment requirements. Eli Lilly is a global pharmaceutical company with more than 40,000 employees and headquartered in Indianapolis. The company produces, among other things, medicines for diabetes and severe obesity.