Lilly Announces $70M Indy Expansion

Indy Chamber News Archives

By Andy Ober, Assistant Managing Editor, Inside Indiana Business

INDIANAPOLIS - One of Indiana's biggest-name companies is growing. Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) has announced a $70 million expansion plan at its global research and development headquarters in Indianapolis. The company says the new building, which will include a multi-disciplinary laboratory, will allow chemists and engineers to work together on drug discovery and development. The project marks Lilly's fourth R&D expansion this year. It is also growing operations in its Massachusetts, San Diego and New York operations.

Lilly says the new Indianapolis lab will focus on small molecules, which are part of treatments that are typically taken orally. Such drugs currently comprise about half of the company's investigational medicines portfolio. Lilly expects the lab to open in 2017.

In a release from Lilly, Executive Vice President of Science and Technology Jan Lundberg said, "We are excited to grow our presence in Indianapolis, which is home to our largest global R&D facility and where our research efforts began. Evolving our laboratories will position Lilly and its Indianapolis-based scientists to more efficiently discover and develop new treatments that will make life better."

Lilly says the project is part of its continued growth in Indianapolis, which included a $400 million expansion announced in 2013 to increase insulin manufacturing capacity. In May, the company announced plans to build a delivery and device innovation center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Two months later, it detailed plans to expand its San Diego biotechnology center. Last month, Lilly unveiled plans to grow its presence at the Alexandria Center for Life Science in New York City.