Even as obesity and diabetes heavyweights Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk command headlines with their global manufacturing expansions, Boehringer Ingelheim is getting in on the action.
Thursday, Boehringer Ingelheim pledged 120 million euros ($131 million) to expand a plant in Koropi, Greece, to crank out more doses of new and existing medicines.
Specifically, Boehringer Ingelheim said it'll boost production of Eli Lilly-partnered blockbuster Jardiance, which treats diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease. Besides Jardiance, the company plans to add capacity for certain drugs in "late-stage development," the company said in a release.
“We have been present in Greece since 1966, and have gradually expanded our operations in the country,” Boehringer Ingelheim's board chairman Hubertus von Baumbach said in a statement. “This expansion investment will bring some of our most innovative therapies to an increasing number of patients globally.”
The plant already employs 700 people, but it's set to add 110 to its ranks after the expansion, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement.
Boehringer Ingelheim opened the Koropi site in 1975, according to the company's website. The plant supplies medicines to more than 70 countries, including Greece.
The facility boasts fully automated technology after expansions and updates over the years. In 2020, Boehringer committed 80 million euros over multiple years to add to the site, Greek publication Kathimerini reported at the time.
Meanwhile, the project in Koropi isn't Boehringer Ingelheim's only major manufacturing play from the last year. In May, the company kicked off construction at a new 285 million euro plant at its German headquarters. When operational in 2026, the site will make active pharmaceutical ingredients for drugs in clinical trials.