What’s the potential impact of Lilly’s $4.5B ‘medicine foundry’ in Lebanon?

The LEAP Research and Innovation District under development near Lebanon represents a shift in the way economic development officials are working to attract companies to Indiana and create jobs. Its detractors have objected to the strategy by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to corner thousands of acres of rural land for the project. Some are highly skeptical about the impact of channeling tens of millions of gallons of water per day to the site for its tenants. You could argue that the thing giving LEAP the most sizzle and credibility right now is its future anchor tenant: Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. In total, Lilly has committed to investing more than $13 billion in its facilities and activities at the district. It has revealed its plans over four announcements in the last two and a half years, with the most recent coming earlier this month: a $4.5 billion project called the Lilly Medicine Foundry. Where the previous investments were all about manufacturing, this latest announcement is more about research. The so-called foundry will focus on how to make new medicines better and faster, while also increasing capacity for clinical trial medicines. Other potential payoffs for Hoosiers include creating an anticipated 400 full-time jobs for highly skilled workers, who will include engineers, scientists and operations personnel. In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, reporter John Russell puts it all in context and explores in greater depth the potential impact of the foundry as Lilly hovers near a milestone that would make it one of the most valuable companies in America.

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