Dec. 5, 2024 5:45p
(WGTD)---A major pharmaceutical company that bought a small drug manufacturing plant in Kenosha County earlier this year announced a huge expansion Thursday.
Indiana-based Eli Lilly says it plans to build a $3 billion campus that’ll incorporate its original purchase of the former Nexus company plant near I-94 and State Highway 165.
Speaking to reporters and its local workforce in a warehouse the company acquired in the area, company CEO David Ricks noted that the Kenosha County plant expansion will be the largest of a series of Eli Lilly building projects, save for its planned facilities in its home state. "We can't wait to get started," Ricks said.
The project is expected to lead to 750 permanent jobs, said Ricks, adding that construction is expected to begin next year.
Also speaking at the event was Gov. Evers, who said Eli Lilly’s presence will enhance the state’s status as a regional tech hub in biohealth.
Kenosha County Executive Samantha Kerkman said she never imagined that Lilly’s purchase earlier this year of the Nexus plant would lead to such a large project. "This is truly a historic moment in Kenosha County," she said.
The Kenosha campus—once it’s complete—is expected to help meet the growing demand for diabetes and obesity drugs, and will also be positioned to make medicines that are in the pipeline, the company said.
Eli Lilly's decision to expand in Kenosha County is partly the result of a strong biohealth ecosystem in the region that includes Abbott Labs and AbbVie just to the south, according to Eli Lilly's Kenosha project manager, Serafino Fabiano.
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