Lilly Starts Building $5B Virginia Cancer Drug Plant With 650 Jobs

Eli Lilly has started building a $5 billion drug plant in Goochland County, just west of Richmond, Virginia. The company held a ceremony at the site on Oct. 22. The plant will make antibody-drug conjugates, a type of targeted cancer medicine.

What happened

Lilly said the Richmond plant is one of 10 new U.S. manufacturing sites it has announced since 2020. It is one of five of those sites that will make active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company said its push to expand U.S. production totals more than $50 billion.

According to Lilly, this will be its first site to make both active ingredients and finished medicines in one fully integrated facility. Chair and CEO Dave Ricks said the whole process will run in Richmond, a first for the company, Virginia Business reported.

Antibody-drug conjugates link a tumour-targeting antibody to a chemotherapy drug. Lilly said these medicines are also being studied for autoimmune diseases and other conditions.

Lilly bought the 227-acre site in West Creek Business Park for $38.3 million in August, Virginia Business reported. The outlet said Lilly plans to open a monoclonal antibody facility in 2030 and a drug product facility in 2031. Edgardo Hernandez, who leads manufacturing operations at Lilly, said this kind of facility usually takes five years. He said the company aims to make medicine there in 2030.

Why it matters

The project has grown since it was first announced in September 2025. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger said the original plans called for about $2.1 billion and that Lilly has more than doubled it. Earlier plans also listed 468 jobs, Virginia Business reported.

Ricks said keeping every step in one place gives Lilly more control over production and cuts its reliance on foreign suppliers, WWBT reported. The plant also adds to a cluster of drug sites in the state. In October 2025, AstraZeneca announced $4.5 billion for two facilities in Albemarle County, and Merck announced a $3 billion facility in Elkton.

What it means for people in the industry

Lilly expects the plant to create 650 permanent jobs and about 1,800 construction jobs. The company said the permanent roles include engineers, scientists, operations staff and lab technicians.

Lilly has committed $40 million to a state training hub for advanced drug manufacturing. A pilot-scale training site in Goochland County is targeted to open in 2028. Virginia Business reported that AstraZeneca and Merck have each made the same $40 million commitment.

The timeline is long. WWBT reported that construction should finish by 2030, and the plant still needs commissioning and regulatory approvals before full production. For people in biologics and conjugate manufacturing, the 2028 training site and the planned 2030 start of production are the dates to watch.

See open pharma jobs in the US and Canada

Sources

• Lilly breaks ground in Richmond to expand American manufacturing of next-generation cancer medicines, advancing its build-out of 10 new U.S. sites since 2020, Eli Lilly and Company (PR Newswire)
• Eli Lilly breaks ground on $5B Virginia manufacturing site, Virginia Business
• Eli Lilly breaks ground on $5 billion Goochland manufacturing facility, WWBT 12 On Your Side