(Reuters) -Eli Lilly said on Monday it plans to build a new $3 billion manufacturing plant in the Netherlands to expand the production capacity for its keenly watched weight-loss pill, orforglipron, and other oral medicines.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker has shelled out billions of dollars in recent months to boost production of orforglipron, as it proceeds with global regulatory submissions for the pill by the end of the year.
Lilly had said last week orforglipron met most criteria for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new national priority voucher, which could shorten drug reviews to one to two months from about 10 to 12 months.
The new European facility would be also used to make oral medicines for diseases related to cardiometabolism, neurology, oncology and immunology, Lilly said.
The plant, located in Leiden Bio Science Park in Katwijk, Netherlands, will create 500 skilled manufacturing jobs and about 1,500 jobs in construction work, the company said. The construction is expected to start next year.
The announcement comes days after Lilly announced an over $1.2 billion expansion of its site in Carolina, Puerto Rico, to make orforglipron a part of its previously announced $50 billion U.S. manufacturing push.
Lilly has said it plans to announce two new U.S. manufacturing sites in the coming months.
The drugmaker’s manufacturing footprint in Europe includes sites in France, Ireland, Italy and Spain.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
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