Eli Lilly and Co., increases LEAP District investment to $9B for weight loss drug

Eli Lilly and Co., is more than doubling its investment in its Boone County manufacturing site to increase production of ingredients in its blockbuster weight loss and diabetes drugs.

The expansion to produce the ingredients in Zepbound and Mounjaro will increase the cost of the project from $3.7 billion to $9 billion.

"Our business since then, continues to look very promising, both pipeline events but also the uptake of some of our newest medicines including Mounjaro and Zepbound, or weight loss medication," David Ricks, the CEO of Lilly, said during an event Friday at the Indiana Global Economic Summit. "This is a $9 billion dollar investment for the company. That's the largest in our history.”

The Lilly site will be based in the LEAP Lebanon Innovation and Research District, a planned tech and manufacturing hub in Boone County. Gov. Eric Holcomb and the state economic development department announced the district in 2022, highlighting the initial $2.1 billion the company committed for the then-600 acres project. Since then, plans for the project have grown twice.

The expansion now will bring 900 full-time jobs to the area along with some 5,000 construction jobs, more than the 500 Lilly initially predicted its investment would create.

During the Indiana Global Economic Summit event Friday, Ricks and Holcomb said lawmakers have to work with businesses to make Indiana an attractive place for skilled jobseekers.

Lilly brought the drug Mounjaro, an insulin drug that was later approved for weight loss under the name Zepbound, to market in 2022, around the time that Novo Nordisk's Ozempic became a household name in the diet industry. The popularity of both drugs soared after doctors and patients described the drugs as a breakthrough in weight loss, an industry plagued for decades by failed diets and drugs.

However, the drug isn't without its controversy. Without insurance, the monthly cost of Mounjaro is more than $1,000, pricing it far out of reach for many Americans. The side effects of the drug, which range from nausea and vomiting to the more severe gallbladder problems, has prompted legal action from some patients who said the pharmaceutical company failed to warn users of serious risks.

During a press conference Friday morning, Ricks acknowledged affordability as an issue with the drug but put the blame on the insurance companies that are refusing to cover obesity medication.

"We need to think of obesity as a disease and cover it with insurance," Ricks said.

Controversy over water supply

Controversy has also surrounded the LEAP district project since it was announced. Farmers and rural residents in the community told IndyStar they feared the development will drain natural resources and ruin the agricultural charm of the area.

Boone county residents criticized the state for failing to take community input into what they say was a rushed announcement.

When asked about the farmland concerns, Holcomb said local leaders are taking those concerns into consideration but stressed that the development would bring jobs to the area.

"Indiana is in a posture where we see growth and opportunity every day," he said.

Tippecanoe County residents were also upset when they learned the Indiana Economic Development Corporation's initial plans to pump tens of millions of gallons of water into the project through a pipeline that would travel some 40 miles from the Wabash River aquifer in Lafayette.

A Lafayette resident started a petition to stop the pipeline last September.

"This excessive extraction poses a significant threat to our local water supply and could have severe consequences for our community's future," the petition, with more than 6,000 signatures, stated.

David Rosenberg, Indiana's Secretary of Commerce, said Friday that the state is still determining the best course of action to bring water to the site.

Recruitment issues

Lilly CEO Ricks has been one of the most vocal business leaders about the challenges of recruiting talent to Indiana.

During a conversation on stage Friday, Ricks shared that employees from outside of the United States helped the company developed its popular weight loss drug.

"That's an important theme and these contentious times about immigration, the highlight is we want to attract people from all over the world to do great things here in our state," he said.

To develop skilled worker in Indiana, Lilly Endowment put $100 million into Purdue university to funnel graduates into the company.

Lilly's leadership has also clashed with state lawmakers over social issues such as LGBTQ+ and reproductive health rights. While Lilly led the charge in 2015 to amend a law that was widely thought to be discriminatory against LGBTQ+ residents, business leaders had lost much of that leverage when they advocated against the abortion ban in 2022.

After the ban was signed into law, Lilly and Cummins criticized the decision and said the law would deter their recruitment effort.

But despite those misgivings, Lilly has continued to heavily invest in Indiana.

Binghui Huang can be reached at Bhuang@gannett.com or 317-385-1595

Kayla Dwyer contributed to reporting.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Eli Lilly increases LEAP District investment for weight loss drug