Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly pledges $850M for U.S. operations
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. said Friday that it would invest $850 million in the U.S. in 2017 to expand research, manufacturing and administrative facilities, while pledging to do more if Washington adopts tax reform.
The announcement marked the latest major corporation in an industry targeted by President Trump to highlight its American spending plans.
Like many of the companies that are promoting their U.S. plans, most of the Lilly spending is typical and involves ongoing projects. Spokesman Mark Taylor said in an email that 2017's plan is $100 million more than 2016's spending.
"The investments announced today are being driven by demand for Lilly products as well as our robust pipeline of potential medicines," Taylor said.
Trump has pressured drug companies to bolster U.S. manufacturing operations instead of making drugs in foreign markets while also pledging to remove regulatory barriers.
“Those are things that can really help us,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said in January at a meeting between Trump and pharmaceutical industry executives.
Trump pledges fewer regulations, more competition for drugmakers
Lilly hinted Friday that "more investments can be expected, particularly if the U.S. adopts a more favorable tax environment."
"The equitable treatment of foreign earnings, a lower U.S. corporate tax rate, and U.S. innovation incentives—similar to the rest of the world—will encourage significant investment in the U.S., creating economic growth and good jobs for Americans," Lilly CEO David Ricks said in a statement.
The investments announced Friday include $85 million plans to beef up Lilly's manufacturing operations in Indianapolis to expand assembly of an injection device for the diabetes drug dulaglutide.
The company is doubling down on core research areas in the wake of a late-stage trial failure by a highly anticipated Alzheimer's disease drug called solanezumab. The company in December announced that solanezumab did not slow the progress of Alzheimer's, as Lilly had hoped. Lilly since then has planned hundreds of layoffs, including 75 in Indiana.
Manufacturing has been a growth area for the company, though, particularly related to its diabetes products. Lilly has hired about 400 manufacturing workers in Indianapolis during the last five years and has a total of 6,000 manufacturing workers in the U.S.
In addition to announcing Lilly's expansion plans, Ricks is expected to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan's tax reform plan at a news conference Friday morning at the Lilly Technology Center in Indianapolis.
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