Eli Lilly Breaks Ground on $6.5B Houston Facility
Eli Lilly broke ground Monday, September 21, 2026, on a $6.5 billion manufacturing facility at Generation Park in Northeast Houston. The site will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients, including Foundayo (orforglipron), the company's first synthetic oral GLP-1 medicine, which the FDA approved April 1 for weight management. Foundayo is under regulatory review in more than 40 countries, with a full global rollout targeted for 2027. The Houston plant is Lilly's fifth domestic API production site announced since 2020 and one of ten U.S. manufacturing sites in that span, part of a broader $50 billion effort to reshore medicine production. The company expects more than 600 high-wage jobs and about 4,000 construction jobs during the building phase. The same day, Lilly announced a $12.5 million partnership with San Jacinto College for workforce training pathways and a separate $2.5 million donation to the San Jacinto College Foundation for scholarships. Chairman and CEO David A. Ricks said the company is thrilled to break ground on its latest medicines-made-in-America site and aims to produce medicines at home and distribute them globally. Governor Greg Abbott called the investment the largest active pharmaceutical ingredient project in Texas history. Manufacturing operations president Edgardo Hernandez said the facility will run on community talent hired across the greater Houston area. Bristol Myers Squibb announced a separate $2.3 billion, 600K SF manufacturing campus in the same Generation Park development in August.