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Eli Lilly plans a $3.5B pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Upper Macungie

Project will create 850 new jobs, the largest in Lehigh Valley history

Pennsylvania is investing $100M to secure the project

Construction on the seven-building campus begins this fall, opens by 2031

 

Local and state economic development officials, including Gov. Josh Shapiro are joining executives from Eli Lilly in Allentown Friday, to announce what is being described as the single largest economic development project ever in the Lehigh Valley’s history as well as the largest pharmaceutical investment in Pennsylvania. 

Lilly will be investing $3.5 billion to create a new, state-of-the art pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Upper Macungie Township that will bring 850 new jobs to the region. 

Don Cunningham, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, which worked with state economic development officials to secure the investment, called the news an enormous win for the region. 

“There’s been nothing comparable since the days of Bethlehem Steel, which grew slowly over a century, with our workers producing the steel for America’s skylines and bridges and the armaments to help win two world wars,” Cunningham said. “Today, Eli Lilly and Company write the first page of a new chapter – the era of life sciences – in the Lehigh Valley’s proud history of making things in America.” 

Construction on the facility is expected to begin in the fall on property off of Old Route 222 that was owned by the Jaindl family and is already zoned for pharmaceutical manufacturing. 

Governor Shapiro said the state is investing $100 million to support the manufacturing site’s project in the Lehigh Valley, noting that Pennsylvania competed aggressively against other states to win the project. 

He noted that this will be the first Lilly manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania and said it represents a long-term commitment to the state from one of the world’s leading drugmakers.  

“When we announced our Economic Development Strategy here in the Lehigh Valley two years ago, we set out to win historic, life-changing deals like the one we’re announcing with Lilly today,” said Shapiro. “Lilly’s commitment to the Lehigh Valley and to Pennsylvania will bring billions of dollars of investment and hundreds of good-paying jobs, solidifying our position as a leader in the growing life sciences industry.”  

Lilly received a funding proposal from DCED for up to $50 million in tax credits through the PA Edge Tax Credit Program, a $25 million grant through the PA SITES (Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites) Program, and a $25 million Pennsylvania First grant. The state has also committed to providing a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) award of up to $5 million to a local community college and/or technical school to help create a workforce development training program that would serve as a talent pipeline for the company in the Lehigh Valley.  

“To meet increasing demand, we’re expanding our U.S. manufacturing network, with Lehigh Valley adding capacity for next-generation weight-loss medicines. We’re creating high quality jobs and collaborating across the region—with suppliers, educators, and workforce development partners—to make critical medicines in the U.S.,” Ricks told more than 200 local and state dignitaries at Friday’s announcement. “That’s our commitment—to patients, to our new Pennsylvania home, and to our country.”  

In December, Lilly became the first drugmaker to reach $1 trillion in market value, buoyed by sales of weight loss and diabetes medications including Mounjaro and Zepbound. The company’s expansion here is part of its plan to grow manufacturing in the U.S, with new facilities also planned in Virginia, Texas, and Alabama.  

Construction on the seven-building campus, which will include a new interchange off of I-78 to ease access to the site, is expected to begin in the fall with a goal to be complete by the fall of 2031.