With an intent to make the incurable curable, Huntsville may as well become the right place of biopharma production in the next decade.
Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant, announced plans on December 9, 2025, to invest over $6bn on the new Huntsville facility located in the Greenbriar area of Huntsville, at the Limestone County.
Tommy Battle, the mayor of Huntsville, said that the decision of Eli Lilly to go ahead and invest over $6bn on the new Huntsville facility for the next-generation pharmaceutical manufacturing is indeed a tremendous vote of confidence in their people and, of course, their future. Huntsville has long been a place wherein innovation goes on to thrive and hard as well as impossible things get done. He added that they are indeed very proud to welcome Lilly to their community and also excited to help shape the next era when it comes to breakthrough medicine.
Construction on the facility, which is the single-largest initial investment when it comes to Alabama history, is all set to start in 2026. The next-gen synthetic medicine active pharmaceutical ingredient – API facility is going to produce small-molecule synthetic as well as peptide medicines.
More significantly, the site is going to be among those that are going to manufacture orforglipron, which is the first oral, small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist by Lilly, which the company anticipates submitting to global regulatory agencies for obesity by 2025 end.
Lilly, apparently, is going to bring around 450 high-value jobs to the area, which includes the likes of scientists, engineers, and operations personnel, as well as lab technicians.
David A. Ricks, Lilly Chair and CEO, said that the track record of science and innovation at Huntsville, supported by the advanced manufacturing expertise as well as a skilled workforce, goes on to make Alabama a perfect location for Lilly in order to expand the domestic manufacturing capacity for next-gen medicines. He added that the investment of today continues the onshoring of API production, making the supply chain resilience stronger and giving quite dependable access to medicines for patients across the U.S.
Construction on the facility is expected to start in 2026 and is most likely to generate 3,000 construction jobs as and when this state-of-the-art facility gets built, added Ricks. And the plant should be functioning in 48 months.
By the time year 2 is reached, it will look like a plant, remarks Ricks. The third year is indeed going to be the interior as well as automation, and the fourth will include testing of products.
Expanding the U.S. manufacturing presence of Lilly in Alabama is indeed going to boost the Huntsville economy. Apparently, for every dollar that Lilly invests there, it forecasts almost $4 in additional local economic activity, which means that the $6 billion facility is all set to have an economic impact of somewhere around $24 billion, added Ricks.
Also, for every manufacturing job that is created, there would be many more that are going to be generated within the related sectors such as supply chain, logistics, and retail.
The announcement was made at a panel discussion that was hosted by Gov. Kay Ivey in Mars Music Hall located in Huntsville. It got moderated by Decatur native as well as former NASA astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison. Joining Ricks on this panel were Ellen McNair – the Alabama Department of Commerce Secretary; President of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Charles Karr; Jimmy Hodges, the Calhoun Community College President; and Neil Lamb, President of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology.
Saying that it was indeed a hard-fought battle so as to win the project, Ivey went on to cite the legacy of innovation when it comes to the area.
Ivey said that Huntsville, as well as their entire state, indeed comes with a proven legacy of innovation, and there isn’t a better home for Lilly than what they can get right here in Alabama. Their roots within the biosciences sector run quite deep, and the contributions made by Alabama to this growing sector continue. He further added that they are indeed proud to welcome the new U.S. manufacturing facility of Lilly, which they are thrilled is going to be the largest initial investment within the history of their state.
Undoubtedly, Alabamians are indeed going to help Lilly do tasks that have never been done before, and they will make sure that this great company goes on to attain their mission when it comes to enhancing the health as well as the well-being of people all throughout the country as well as the globe.
The Greenbrier South site was selected from over 300 applications. Moreover, besides its workforce potential, the site also goes on to offer ready access to utilities and transportation as well as favorable zoning along with incentives, said Ricks.
According to Bethany Shockney, Limestone County Economic Development Association’s President & CEO, the $6 billion Eli Lilly announcement that has been made is the largest initial investment in the state history of Alabama and is indeed a mammoth win for Huntsville-Limestone County. This investment does validate the position of Huntsville-Limestone as a premier location when it comes to advanced manufacturing as well as innovation.
Lilly also intends to make use of state-of-the-art technologies such as machine learning, digitally integrated monitoring systems, AI, and advanced data analytics in order to drive right-first-time implementation. Digital automation is indeed going to be embedded all across the site in order to streamline the operations and also make sure of a dependable supply of safe as well as high-quality medicines.
According to the Chairman of the Limestone County Commission, Collin Daly, the jobs and investment that Lilly is making in Limestone County are going to have a positive effect for generations of their residents. He added that this project is a pretty big win for the entire region, and they look forward to working with Huntsville so as to make it a success.
The panelists also went on to cite the collaboration between the state, counties, and cities, as well as universities and schools, on numerous projects and also their capacity to tailor their programs as per the requirements of the industries.
The senior vice president of economic development & workforce at Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, Lucia Cape, said that the announcement is the outcome of years of preparation in their life sciences sector with their partners at the city, the state, and HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology; their schools and universities; and also the community as a whole, which has stood up and embraced biotech the way they embraced space exploration. Huntsville consistently continues to be a smart place when it comes to meaningful careers across all of their targeted industries.
