Lilly officials say new facility could mean faster development, lower prices
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Lilly officials on Wednesday said a newly-announced facility near Lebanon could shorten the drug research and development cycle by up to a year or more.
Company leaders announced they will build a $4.5 billion pharmaceutical research and manufacturing facility at the LEAP District, the new high-tech research park under construction just off I-65 in Boone County. Called the Lilly Medicine Foundry, officials said as far as they know, it will be the first facility in the world to combine those functions under one roof. Officials project it will support about 400 full-time jobs once it opens. Lilly President and CEO David Ricks said the company’s goal is to shorten the amount of time it takes to develop a drug, put it through clinical trials and then put it into production. He said the site will allow the company to scale up production quickly in order to begin clinical trials sooner.
“Discovery is not enough,” Ricks said. “We have to make sure those discoveries get to the patients who need them.”
Dan Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief scientific officer and the president of Lilly Research Laboratories, said the facility will consist of seven buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet. He said the facility will both research new medicines and manufacture them for use in clinical trials. Skovronsky said the company’s goal is to find more efficient and environmentally-friendly ways to manufacture drugs. He said the foundry will focus on molecular therapies, cell-based medicines and genetic medicines.
“This new site will also help us accelerate the transition of science from the lab into the clinical trials and ultimately on to the patients,” Skovronsky said.
Skovronsky said researchers often lose as much as one to two years simply because there is not enough manufacturing capacity to produce developmental drugs at the scale needed for clinical trials. Ricks said a shorter product development cycle could lead to lower drug prices for patients. He said Lilly can’t reduce prices unless it has enough supply to do so.
Economic development officials said the facility brings the total investment in LEAP District-based projects to about $18 billion to date, about $13 billion of which comes from Lilly projects. This comes amid ongoing concerns over whether utilities will be able to supply enough water while still covering the needs of nearby communities. Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg said Citizens Energy’s current agreement with the city of Lebanon will be able to supply enough water for both existing projects and the city’s own needs. The Lilly Medicine Foundry project includes state support for road and water improvements related to the site, as well as economic incentives tied to Lilly’s performance.
Gov. Eric Holcomb also defended the site’s water needs. He said the state would not have approved any of the LEAP District’s projects to date if they had exceeded the state’s existing water capacity. Holcomb said the Indiana Finance Authority‘s water report is still on track to be released in December.
“Not one drip will be drained that’s not accounted for,” Holcomb told reporters afterward.
The LEAP District has also drawn criticism from the candidates to succeed Holcomb, who is term-limited. Mike Braun, Jennifer McCormick, and Donald Rainwater all have criticized the Indiana Economic Development Corporation for its current approach, which they say picks winners and losers among Indiana’s regions and has at times been heavy-handed. Holcomb said the state has had to maintain an aggressive stance in order to bring in record investment. As for the regional growth critiques, Holcomb said there are hundreds of sites around the state for businesses to choose from and it’s ultimately up to them, not the IEDC, where they choose to build.
Lilly officials said construction will begin next year. They said they hope to make the facility fully operational by the end of 2027.