Drug manufacturer Eli Lilly to build plant in Goochland, create 650 permanent jobs

by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury
September 16, 2025

Amtrak trains arrived and departed Tuesday morning at Richmond’s Main Street Station as state and local lawmakers announced pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly will construct a $5 billion manufacturing facility in Virginia that is slated to bring hundreds of jobs to the region and cement the state’s place in America’s pharmaceutical supply chain. 

“Virginia has infrastructure, transportation networks, utilities, a digital economy to support us, and all those things are just vital to a complex operation like the one we’re setting up here,” Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said. 

Anchored in Goochland County’s West Creek Business Park, the manufacturing plant is expected to create 1,800 construction jobs in the short term and about 650 full-time jobs once it opens. That’s about $5 billion in investment into Virginia’s economy, Ricks and Gov. Glenn Youngkin shared when they took to a makeshift stage in the train station. 

“We chose Virginia because we have learned we have reliable partners here and great people who turn commitments into results,” Ricks said. 

He added that since the company began fielding interest this past February, it received over 400 proposals from 46 states before it picked Virginia and Goochland County as the winner. 

The plant is expected to focus specifically on medicines for cancers and autoimmune diseases. 

Surrounded by red signage — the color of Lilly’s logos and Youngkin’s political affiliation as a Republican —  the men celebrated Virginia’s continued growth as a pharmaceutical hub. 

Youngkin gave a shout out to various state delegates whose work in the legislature have helped make Virginia attractive to pharmaceutical companies, including  Tom Garret, R-Goochland, David Owen, R-Henrico and Rodney WIllet, D-Henrico. Goochland’s board of supervisors members were in attendance to celebrate as well. 

During President Joe Biden’s administration, federal funding was invested in Virginia to help spur pharmaceutical manufacturing south of Richmond around Prince George County. Youngkin has since announced other pharmaceutical investments in Virginia like AstraZeneca’s planned manufacturing facility in the state, consumer health company Haleon’s upgrades to its Richmond location and the establishment of an internship partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and other schools.

AstraZeneca to build its largest-ever manufacturing facility in Virginia, creating hundreds of jobs

While Ricks noted that some out-of-state hires could be made once the Lilly plant is up and running, Youngkin emphasized that Virginia’s higher education institutions have pharmaceutical and life science degrees that offer a localized talent pipeline in the state. 

“We get to collectively say that ‘made in America’ means ‘made in Virginia,’” Youngkin said. 

While the full set-up of the site could take a couple of years, Ricks said, initial permitting and preparing the site will be underway within the next few weeks.

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