Lilly to build $2.5 billion Germany plant as obesity drug demand soars
By Klaus Lauer and Ludwig Burger
BERLIN (Reuters) -Eli Lilly will build its first plant in Germany in the western town of Alzey for 2.3 billion euros ($2.5 billion), the U.S. drugmaker said on Friday, as the sector scrambles to meet soaring demand for new diabetes and obesity therapies.
The investment, which was reported by Reuters on Wednesday and Thursday, will help boost production of diabetes and obesity drugs including Mounjaro and Trulicity and the injection pens to administer them, the Indianapolis-based company said.
«Germany's workforce will play a vital role in bolstering Lilly's incretin supply when the new site is operational beginning in 2027,» Lilly said in a statement on Friday.
Incretins are peptide-based drugs such as Mounjaro that mimic gut hormones to suppress appetite and stimulate insulin secretion.
Diabetes drug Mounjaro, which has been used off-label for weight loss, was last week cleared for that additional use in the United States and can now be promoted by Lilly as an obesity treatment.
Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) and Danish rival Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) are leading a race to seize an estimated $100 billion future global market for anti-obesity treatments. Novo has said that the industry is far from producing enough to meet demand, and Lilly has also acknowledged supply constraints.
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Plans for Lilly's first major production complex in Germany come as drugmakers are growing increasingly sensitive to political pressure to manufacture critical healthcare products closer to the markets they serve after the coronavirus pandemic exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains.
«This investment encourages the government in its efforts to make Germany more attractive as a
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