by Patrick Wingrove

LONDON: Eli Lilly said on Friday it has invested an additional $5.3 billion in its new Lebanon plant. Indiana manufacturing plantits number has more than doubled Previous InvestmentsBecause it helps in your weight loss and Diabetes medications,

The new investment, which brings the total amount raised to $9 billion, will help boost production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for Lilly’s powerful weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Monjaro, the company said.

“Today’s announcement marks one of the largest manufacturing investments in our company’s history and, we believe, the largest investment in synthetic drug API manufacturing in U.S. history,” said Lilly CEO David Ricks.

Zepbound and Mounjaro, chemically known as tirzepatide, are in shortage in the US and availability of most doses is expected to remain limited until the second quarter of this year.

Zepbound was slated to be introduced in the U.S. in late 2023. Lilly has since sold more than 1.2 million prescriptions of the drug, according to IQVIA data.

The Indianapolis-based company said in a call with investors last month that it expects Zepbound supply to remain “fairly tight” in the near and mid-term as it ramps up capacity.

Lilly said it has committed to spend a total of $16 billion to build new manufacturing sites through 2020, including $2.5 billion for a plant in Germany and $1.2 billion to update existing facilities.

The company previously said it expected the Lebanon plant to begin making the medicines by the end of 2026, but that its new Concord plant and expanded facilities in Durham, North Carolina, would begin ramping up supplies of Zepbound and Monjaro when they become operational this year.

Danish rival company Novo Nordisk has also invested billions of dollars in manufacturing to increase supplies of its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy and announced it would acquire three sites from Wegovy. Contract Manufacturer Catalent For $11 billion.

Lilley announced last month that she manufacturing facility From Nexus Pharmaceuticals To create injectable drugs,

The company said it expects to add 200 full-time jobs for engineers, scientists, operations personnel and other highly-skilled workers. Laboratory Technician For this Lebanon Plant As part of the new investment.

(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove; Editing by Frances Kerry and Franklin Paul)