*

Houston plant to make inputs for orforglipron, other

advanced

therapies

*

CEO David Ricks says new plant to be major hub for

orforglipron,

with some production at new Indiana site

*

Houston plant to create more than 4,600 jobs for

scientists,

construction workers, others

By Patrick Wingrove

Sept 23 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) will make its

next-generation experimental weight-loss pill, orforglipron, at

a new multi-billion-dollar manufacturing plant it plans to build

in Texas, the company said on Tuesday.

Lilly said it would invest $6.5 billion to build the plant

in Houston, Texas, as part of its $27 billion, four-site U.S.

build-out plan for the next five years.

The Houston facility will make the active pharmaceutical

ingredients for orforglipron and for some of Lilly's cancer,

autoimmune and other advanced therapies, the company said.

Lilly Chief Executive David Ricks told Reuters the new plant

would be a major hub for orforglipron production, although the

drug will also be made at a site in Indiana.

"This site will make orforglipron primarily and some of the

precursor materials that make up (the drug)," he said, adding

that it would enhance Lilly's ability to make the pill at scale.

Ricks said Texas was chosen for the site partly because of

the chemical engineering and chemistry expertise in the area,

along with the abundance of skilled labor and construction

support there.

Lilly, the world's most valuable drugmaker by market value,

has been ramping up U.S. and global manufacturing to meet

surging demand for its injectable GLP-1 obesity drug, Zepbound,

and is racing against rival Novo Nordisk to launch a

weight-loss drug in pill form.

Orforglipron, which is designed to mimic the

appetite-suppressing GLP-1 hormone targeted by Lilly's

blockbuster Zepbound, could generate around $25 billion for

Lilly in annual peak sales, Jefferies analyst Akash Tewari said

in a note this month.

Data showed that the daily pill helped patients lose 12.4%

of their body weight in a late-stage study. Lilly plans to

submit it for regulatory review later this year.

Wall Street analysts have said the drug is a good candidate,

however, for a fast-track one- to two-month review process

recently launched by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Global drugmakers have also been ramping up U.S.

manufacturing investment this year after President Donald Trump

urged them to make more medicines domestically instead of

importing ingredients or finished products.

Lilly and other large pharmaceutical companies including

Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ), Roche and Sanofi

have together pledged to pump hundreds of billions of dollars

into U.S. manufacturing in the coming years.

Lilly in February pledged at least $27 billion for four new

U.S. plants. It last week said it had picked Goochland County,

Virginia, for a $5 billion site.

Lilly's Texas project is expected to create more than 600

permanent jobs for scientists, engineers and other skilled

workers, along with about 4,000 construction roles, the company

said.

The Indianapolis-based drugmaker plans to announce the

locations of the two remaining U.S. plants later this year and

expects to begin making medicines at all four facilities within

five years.