Eli Lilly is planting a flag in Houston with a $6.5 billion biomanufacturing complex, the biggest biotech investment in Texas history and one of the largest single corporate projects ever in the region, fueled by a weightloss drug.
The global drugmaker will build a 236-acre facility in Generation Park, a master-planned business hub off Beltway 8 near George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the Houston Chronicle reported. The project will create 4,000 construction jobs and 615 permanent roles, ranging from lab technicians to engineers, with average pay topping $100,000.
Lilly acquired the land within the last month and is already moving dirt. McCord Development, which is steering Generation Park, will invest $100 million in infrastructure upgrades, while Lilly will handle the buildings.
The state sweetened the deal with $146 million in incentives, plus $5.5 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund. Gov. Greg Abbott compared the project to Tesla’s speedy Gigafactory build in Austin, vowing Texas regulators will cut red tape to fast-track Lilly’s plans. Local rebates and abatements from the Generation Park Management District are also expected.
The development cements Houston’s bid to be a national biomanufacturing hub with innovations in the booming weight-loss drug market. Lilly hopes the site will eventually churn out Orforglipron, an experimental oral version of the wildly popular GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy. If approved, the pill could become a blockbuster by offering patients an alternative to injections. Lilly already manufactures the GLP-1 tirzepatide brands Mounjaro and Zepbound.
“We’re in a hurry here,” CEO David Ricks told the outlet, noting the company wants foundations and steel rising by 2027. “If the FDA approves, we’ll be on the clock to ramp this up quickly.”
Beyond obesity drugs, the facility could manufacture small molecule medicines targeting cancer, immunology and neuroscience.
While Houston lacks a deep biotech labor pool, the city has become home to an adjacent life sciences sector, with more than 700 life science companies making Houston home. Ricks pointed to the Gulf Coast’s chemical workforce as a ready talent base. San Jacinto College is launching a biotech program at Generation Park to train workers for the new jobs. Proximity to chemical suppliers along the coast also helped tip the scales in Houston’s favor.
The announcement came amid Lilly’s push to onshore production amid growing demand. Alongside a plant in Virginia, the company expects to announce two more U.S. sites later this year.
— Eric Weilbacher
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