American pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company has announced a $4.5 billion investment to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new centre for advanced manufacturing and drug development.

This unique facility will give Lilly the ability to research new ways of producing medicines, while also scaling up manufacturing of medicines for clinical trials. The first-ever facility of its kind, combining research and manufacturing in a single location, the Medicine Foundry will be located in Indiana's LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon, Indiana, and will expand the company's investment there to more than $13 billion.

The Medicine Foundry will allow Lilly to further develop innovative solutions to optimise manufacturing processes and increase capacity for clinical trial medicines, while also reducing costs and environmental impact. The flexible design of this new facility will enable production of various molecular therapies, including drug substances for small molecules, biologics and nucleic acid therapies.

New technologies developed at the Medicine Foundry will be transferred to Lilly's other manufacturing sites for full-scale production. The site's location in LEAP will support close collaboration with Lilly Research Laboratories' teams in Indianapolis and Lilly's manufacturing sites in Lebanon.

The State of Indiana will support the new site with infrastructure improvements for roads, water, electricity and other utilities. The state will also offer economic incentives tied to Lilly's investment and employment goals in Lebanon. Once fully operational, the Medicine Foundry is expected to add 400 full-time jobs for highly skilled workers including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians.