Eli Lilly and Company has announced plans to invest more than $1.2 billion to expand and modernize its Lilly del Caribe manufacturing site in Carolina, Puerto Rico. This investment will integrate advanced technologies and expand production capacity within the existing campus to support the company’s growing portfolio of oral solid medicines in cardiometabolic health, neuroscience, oncology and immunology.

The enhanced facility will be among those that will manufacture orforglipron, Lilly’s first oral, small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, which the company expects to submit to global regulatory agencies for obesity by the end of this year. This strategic expansion underscores Puerto Rico’s role in Lilly’s manufacturing agenda as a part of the previously announced $50 billion capital investment commitment to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity.

“After sixty years, Lilly del Caribe continues to play an important role in making life-changing medicines for people in the U.S. and beyond,” said Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations. “Our continued investments in capacity, infrastructure, advanced technologies and highly specialized jobs will further cement the site’s significance in Lilly’s global manufacturing network. Our progress builds on the dedication and expertise of our local team, helping us deliver new medicines for patients around the world.”

This facility will deploy advanced oral solid medicine manufacturing technologies, including dock-to-dock automation and material flow, paperless manufacturing, process analytical technology and spray-dried dispersion, which allows oral medicines to be effectively absorbed.

Lilly estimates that the project will generate up to 1,000 construction jobs and 100 additional high-tech manufacturing positions.

Construction on the expanded oral solid medicine product manufacturing facility is estimated to begin in 2026, with plans to start producing medicine by the end of 2028.