Eli Lilly and Company has announced plans to build a $3bn manufacturing facility at the Leiden Bio Science Park in Katwijk, the Netherlands.
The facility is the latest to be announced by Lilly, which also recently announced an expansion to its manufacturing site in Puerto Rico and new sites in Texas and Virginia, US.
The Katwijk facility will incorporate advanced manufacturing technologies, including dock-to-dock automation, digital material flow systems, paperless production, process analytical technology, and spray-dried dispersion. These innovations are designed to increase capacity for Lilly’s portfolio of oral solid dose medicines, including orforglipron – the company’s first oral, small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist for the treatment of obesity – which is expected to be submitted to global regulatory agencies by the end of 2025.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026, pending the finalisation of governmental and local permits. Lilly estimates that the project will create approximately 1,500 jobs during construction and a further 500 high-value positions once operational, including roles for engineers, scientists, operations staff, and laboratory technicians.
“With extensive investments already underway in the US, our planned expansion in Europe further strengthens our ability to deliver medicines to patients worldwide. Localised manufacturing ensures we can quickly respond to meet regional demand and accelerate distribution within Europe,” said David A Ricks, Lilly chair and CEO.
“Leiden Bio Science Park offers access to a skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure and proven pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities. We look forward to working closely with the EU, national and local governments to create a more favourable and predictable policy environment open to fully harnessing innovative medicines to deliver faster access to patients.”
Lilly currently operates four manufacturing sites in Europe – located in France, Ireland, Italy and Spain. In addition to the Netherlands facility, the company has announced two other new European sites since 2020, in Ireland and Germany, to meet growing demand across its product portfolio.