US bio-pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced a €1billion expansion of its manufacturing facility in Limerick in the production of medicines for diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The firm also unveiled a $800million facility at its site in Kinsale, County Cork, which began making medicines last year to meet demand for diabetes and obesity treatments.
Lilly said its €1.8bin investment in Limerick and Cork will expand its workforce in engineering, science, quality assurance professionals, and operations personnel, and “enhance global medicine production, benefiting millions of patients worldwide”.
Around 150 new jobs are expected to be created in Limerick as part of the announcement.
Lilly’s Limerick manufacturing plant, located in Raheen, will begin increased production of “biologic active ingredients for the company’s promising portfolio of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease”.
Anne E White, executive vice president and president of Lilly Neuroscience, said that Alzheimer’s disease is “a devastating diagnosis for both the patient and for their loved ones” and that “the treatments we plan to make here in Limerick offer the potential to be able to slow the progression of early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease and make life better for millions of people around the world”.
Lilly’s manufacturing operations executive vice-president, Edgardo Hernandez, added that the investments “will boost the production of some of our medicines, helping millions of people with diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease live the healthiest lives possible”.
Welcoming Lilly’s investment announcement, Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Peter Burke said the US pharma giant would “create hundreds of new jobs, directly and indirectly, adding to the thousands already employed in Ireland by Lilly”.
The announcement brings Lilly’s total Limerick investment to $2 billion, doubling the investment the company previously announced in March of 2023.
The company said that advanced technologies such as “machine learning, AI, and automated robotics and systems” at its Limerick site would “enable right-first-time execution, all in support of the safe and reliable supply of medicines”.
“As a part of this expansion, Lilly will create another 150 jobs for highly skilled workers in Limerick such as engineers, scientists, quality assurance professionals, and operations personnel for a total of 450 employees,” the company said.
“The Limerick investment project is subject to planning approval, and the company will submit a planning application to the Limerick City and County Council in due course,” Lilly added.
IDA Ireland CEO Michael Lohan said Lilly’s global business solutions centre in Cork “has quadrupled employment levels since 2019, with more than 2,000 employees expected by the end of 2024, over half of whom are working in clinical research and development”.
Since 2020, Lilly has committed more than $20bn to build, expand and acquire manufacturing facilities in Ireland, Europe, and the US, supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
