On Oct. 22, 2026, Eli Lilly broke ground on a new $5 billion manufacturing facility just west of Richmond, Virginia, in Goochland County, one of 10 new U.S. manufacturing sites announced since 2020 and one of five among them that will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). As part of the company’s more than $50 billion push to expand medicine production in the U.S., the Richmond site will be Lilly’s first to produce both API and finished medicines in a fully integrated facility, with dedicated API capacity for bioconjugate and large-molecule medicines.

The facility will produce antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), targeted cancer treatments designed to combine the precision of antibodies with potent cytotoxic medicines to attack diseased cells directly while limiting exposure to healthy tissue. ADCs are also being explored for autoimmune diseases and other conditions.

Lilly is currently hiring in Richmond and expects the new facility to create 650 high-wage jobs like engineers, scientists, operations personnel, and lab technicians – along with approximately 1,800 construction jobs as the site is built and brought online.

By pairing a highly skilled workforce with advanced technologies and specialized manufacturing, the Richmond site will help support a reliable supply of safe, high-quality medicines. It will use state-of-the-art technologies, including machine learning, AI, digitally integrated systems and advanced data analytics, to drive right-first-time execution, with digital automation embedded throughout the site to streamline operations.

The Richmond facility will be built and operated to the highest standards for safety, quality and environmental stewardship, and Lilly is committed to being a good neighbor in Goochland County and a trusted partner across Virginia. The site is targeting a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, demonstrating Lilly’s focus on sustainable performance as it expands advanced manufacturing in the U.S.