Kickstart: GLP-1 growth drives medical expansions

The consumer demand for injectable medications to control diabetes and aid weight loss isn't slowing down. And that's going to mean more demand for molders that make the injection pens used to administer those drugs.

Eli Lilly and Co. announced Dec. 5 that it is investing $3 billion to expand production of its injectable product "manufacturing network" in Kenosha, Wis., at a site it acquired earlier this year from Nexus Pharmaceuticals LLC.

Indianapolis-based Lily expects to add 750 jobs to the workforce of a little more than 100 in Kenosha currently.

"Today's announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines right here in the Midwest," Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations, said in a news release.

Lily's investment will focus on medication production in Wisconsin, but that work will require increased output from molders as well. Even before the announcement, molders have been increasing capacity, including projects from Schott Pharma AG & Co., and Sharps Technology Inc. Both companies cited demand for the production of the drugs generically called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) for the growth.

The total cost for Lily — including the original acquisition, land purchase, construction and manufacturing equipment — will be about $4 billion. Lily will have in-house assembly and packaging.

Another big medical supplier, Baxter International Inc., has made a fast recovery from the damage to its plant from Hurricane Helene in late September. The facility in North Cove, N.C., resumed deliveries of IV solutions in November and has now reached 85 percent of its pre-storm capacity for 1-liter pre-filled IV bags.

In a Dec. 5 update on its website, the company said it has also restarted 3-liter IV bag lines and peritoneal dialysis solutions manufacturing.

Baxter says all 2,500 employees in North Cove are safe. The site is a major supplier of IV kits for the U.S. When Helene damaged the facility and floods ripped across roads, bridges, power lines and other key infrastructure elements, the entire medical supply chain in the U.S. had to adapt operations to make up for the shortfall.

Plastics.com is for sale.

An online auction for the website name at Sedo.com is set to close on Dec. 12. Plastics.com has been owned by Greg Koski since the early 2000s, who says it was one of the first websites to sell search engine-optimized content marketing. It has had as many as 40,000 unique visitors per month.

During an interview in May at NPE2024, Koski said he's ready to retire and the auction is part of a move to "transition some of the assets."

"After 30 years of building this business and a prosperous life, it's time for someone else to leverage this incredible domain for their own growth," Koski said on the plastics.com website. "I'm excited to watch it happen."