Lilly breaks ground on $6.5B Houston drug manufacturing site

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) broke ground on a $6.5 billion manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas, on Sept. 21, 2026, marking the company's tenth U.S. manufacturing site announced since 2020 and its fifth domestic active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) location.

The facility will manufacture Foundayo (orforglipron), Lilly's FDA-approved oral GLP-1 receptor agonist for weight management, as well as other small-molecule medicines and advanced therapeutics, including oligonucleotides. The company expects the site to employ more than 600 permanent workers, including engineers, scientists, and lab technicians, along with approximately 4,000 construction jobs during the build-out phase.

The Houston site is part of Lilly's stated $50 billion domestic manufacturing investment program. The company said it plans to export medicines produced at the facility to international markets. Foundayo is currently under regulatory review in more than 40 countries, with a full global rollout targeted for 2027.

Lilly is committing $12.5 million to support a workforce training partnership with San Jacinto College aimed at developing technicians, operators, and maintenance professionals for advanced chemical synthesis manufacturing roles. A separate $2.5 million charitable donation to the San Jacinto College Foundation will fund student scholarships.

Foundayo is a once-daily oral tablet originally discovered by Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and licensed by Lilly in 2018. The drug is also being studied for type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, and other conditions, with data expected later in 2026.

Lilly's ten announced U.S. sites since 2020 span API production, injectable medicine manufacturing, device manufacturing, and genetic medicine production, with locations in Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, according to a company press release.

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