Lilly Grows European Manufacturing Capacity with New Facility in The Netherlands
The USD 3 billion facility will expand the company’s capacity to produce oral medicines, enabling it to meet rising customer demand, and will also strengthen its global supply chain.
Eli Lilly has revealed its plans to build a new European manufacturing facility, expanding its capacity to produce oral medicines within the region (1). The new USD 3 billion facility will be located within the Leiden Bio Science Park in Katwijk, the Netherlands.
Incorporating advanced manufacturing technologies, the new capacity will be used to meet the needs of the company’s expanding oral solid medicines portfolio. Capabilities that will be available at the new site will include dock-to-dock automation and material flow, paperless manufacturing, process analytical technology, and spray-dried dispersion.
“With extensive investments already underway in the U.S., our planned expansion in Europe further strengthens our ability to deliver medicines to patients worldwide. Localized manufacturing ensures we can quickly respond to meet regional demand and accelerate distribution within Europe,” said David A. Ricks, Chair and CEO, Eli Lilly, in a company press release (1). “Leiden Bio Science Park offers access to a skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure and proven pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities. We look forward to working closely with the EU, national and local governments to create a more favorable and predictable policy environment open to fully harnessing innovative medicines to deliver faster access to patients.”
This new site adds to Lilly’s current European manufacturing facilities, located in France, Ireland, Italy, and Spain and is expected to bring 500 high-wage jobs to Katwijk once it is up and running. Additionally, the construction of the facility, which is expected to begin early in 2026, is expected to create approximately 1,500 jobs.
“At Lilly, we are investing in next-generation manufacturing facilities around the world to ensure our medicines are made and distributed closer to the communities and patients we serve. Expanding our capabilities in Europe strengthens our global supply chain and reflects our commitment to getting innovative treatments to patients who need them,” commented Edgardo Hernandez, Executive Vice President and President of Lilly Manufacturing Operations, in the press release (1). “Additionally, with each new facility we are building, we find ways to continue to minimize our environmental footprint — assuring carbon neutrality in our operations and generating zero waste to landfills.”
The new site will also manufacture orforglipron, Lilly’s first oral, small molecule glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, which the company expects to submit to global regulatory authorities for the treatment of obesity by the end of 2025. Earlier in October, Lilly announced results of two successful Phase III trials evaluating orfoglipron, which demonstrated that the oral drug offered superior glycemic control compared with two comparators (2).
“Orforglipron has now demonstrated superiority over two active comparators in clinical trials for type 2 diabetes,” said Jeff Emmick, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Product Development, Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, in a company press release (2). “In ACHIEVE-2, orforglipron outperformed dapagliflozin, a commonly used SGLT-2 therapy, and in ACHIEVE-3, showed greater efficacy than oral semaglutide. The findings from ACHIEVE-5 add to this momentum, showing significant A1C reduction and weight loss when used in combination with titrated basal insulin. Together, these results reinforce orforglipron's potential to become a new standard of care for people living with type 2 diabetes.”
References
Eli Lilly. Lilly Plans to Build a New $3 Billion Facility to Boost Oral Medicine Manufacturing Capacity in Europe for Patients Worldwide. Press Release, Nov. 3, 2025.
Eli Lilly. Lilly's Oral GLP-1, Orforglipron, Demonstrated Superior Glycemic Control in Two Successful Phase III Trials, Reconfirming its Potential as a Foundational Treatment in Type 2 Diabetes. Press Release, Oct. 15, 2025.