Eli Lilly and contract manufacturer Resilience have committed $750 million to significantly expand production of Lilly’s KwikPen injectable device across its diabetes and obesity medicine portfolio.
The investment will fund major upgrades to Resilience’s manufacturing site in Ohio, which has been producing Mounjaro and Zepbound since the two companies first partnered in 2023.
The spending is expected to create at least 400 new jobs at the Ohio facility, pushing Resilience’s total headcount in the state to more than 1,400 workers.
Resilience, formerly known as National Resilience, recently relocated its headquarters from San Diego to Blue Ash, Ohio, a town situated roughly 15 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
The company operates two advanced manufacturing facilities in the broader Cincinnati region, with those sites collectively spanning approximately one million square feet of production space.
Resilience recently hit a notable production milestone, having manufactured 150 million doses of Lilly medicines in vial and prefilled syringe formats since the partnership began.
Full operations from the latest round of upgrades, which are centred on Lilly’s KwikPen prefilled injector, are expected to come online in 2027.
Resilience CEO William S. Marth said the scale of the commitment signals serious long-term intent: “Our investment reflects our long-term commitment to building one of the largest and most advanced sterile injectable and device assembly and packaging operations in the US, and demonstrates how trusted partnerships, operational excellence, and disciplined execution can strengthen America’s medicine supply.”
Lilly Executive Vice President and Manufacturing Operations President Edgardo Hernandez pointed to the complexity of the undertaking, stating: “As demand for our medicines continues to increase, scaling complex manufacturing programmes requires proven technical capability, an uncompromising commitment to quality, and the ability to deliver consistently over time.”
The project also draws on support from regional and state-level partners, with REDI Cincinnati, JobsOhio, and Ohio Life Sciences all contributing to workforce development efforts connected to the expansion.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine welcomed the investment as evidence of the state’s growing role in the sector, saying: “Resilience is an example of Ohio’s emerging leadership in biomanufacturing.”
The broader expansion comes as Lilly faces sustained pressure to ramp up supply of its blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes treatments, both of which have seen extraordinary demand since their respective launches.
Mounjaro and Zepbound, both based on tirzepatide, have become central to Lilly’s commercial growth, making reliable and scalable domestic manufacturing infrastructure a strategic priority for the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant.