Eli Lilly is building a $6 billion manufacturing plant in Alabama

Eli Lilly The US drugmaker said on Tuesday that it will spend $6 billion to build a factory in Huntsville, Alabama, to help boost production of experimental obesity pills and other closely monitored drugs.

This is the third facility in a series of new US investments planned by the pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly announced in February that it would spend at least $27 billion to build four new domestic factories, in addition to $23 billion in previous investments since 2020.

The company said it expects construction of the Alabama plant to begin this year and be completed in 2032.

“Today’s investment continues to restore production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), enhancing supply chain resiliency and reliable access to medicines for patients in the United States,” Eli Lilly CEO David Rex said in a statement.

This additional production capacity for Eli Lilly’s obesity pill, orforglipron, is crucial as the company races to file for approval and tries to maintain its dominance in the booming market for GLP-1s. The company and its main competitor, Novo Nordisk, have faced supply shortages for their existing weekly injections after demand skyrocketed in the United States in recent years, though they have been able to mitigate those issues.

Eli Lily’s birth control pill in November won a priority review voucher from the Food and Drug Administration, which will significantly speed up the regulatory body’s evaluation of the drug by potentially a few months.

Drugmakers are scrambling to boost their production in the United States after President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on drugs imported into the United States, but concerns about those potential tariffs eased after recent drug pricing deals with Trump that exempted companies from the duties.

The Alabama site will bring 450 jobs to the region, including engineers, scientists, operations staff and laboratory technicians, as well as 3,000 construction jobs, Eli Lilly said.