US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is cutting its planned €2.3 billion investment for producing weight-loss injections in Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate, by half. Corporate CEO Dave Ricks announced this to the “Handelsblatt” (Thursday edition).
According to the publication, the company has already invested over one billion dollars in the project. The high-tech factory is still slated to become operational in 2027, though with reduced capacity. Consequently, 500 of the planned 1,000 jobs will be eliminated. Ricks stated that the investment scrapped for Germany is likely to be redirected to Pennsylvania in the US, or possibly used to build an entirely new location. “Europe is not completely out of the picture, but the US makes the most sense” he said.
The primary reason cited for this decision is the announced savings legislation by Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU). Ricks claimed that Germany would rank last among European markets in terms of supporting industrial growth. He also indicated that the company does not rule out discontinuing the introduction of new medicines in Germany in the future. “If the conditions do not allow for a market launch in Germany, we will clearly explain why we made that decision”.
