President Donald Trump in February threatened top pharma leaders, including Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, with tariffs unless they reshore their manufacturing operations.
Eli Lilly will produce its investigational oral obesity drug orforglipron domestically, CEO David Ricks said in an interview on Fox Business on Friday.
“We’re [going to] make this medicine here in the United States,” Ricks told news anchor Maria Baritromo on Fox’s Mornings with Maria. “We’re building the largest . . . [active pharmaceutical ingredient] factory . . . in history in the country,” he added, noting that if approved, Lilly will be able to launch orforglipron at scale worldwide, without supply interruptions arising from potential new U.S. tariffs.
This news comes after Lilly announced Thursday that orforglipron significantly reduced blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, lowering A1C levels by 1.5% at 40 weeks, versus 0.1% in placebo. The oral obesity drug also cut body weight by 7.9% as compared to 1.6% in the placebo arm.
Analysts were bullish on the readout, with BMO Capital Markets noting that Lilly achieves [its] goal of reaching injectable like efficacy from oral orforglipron.” The drug’s safety profile also “looks clean” overall, according to the BMO analysts, though they flagged “some concern” regarding vomiting and nausea.
Despite the study being in type 2 diabetes, Lilly expects orforglipron’s first indication to “be in chronic weight management,” Ricks said on Friday. “We’ll get that to the FDA by the end of the year and launch in ’26.” Lilly will study orforglipron in “dozens” of other chronic conditions related to weight, Ricks added, such as heart attack, inflammation and joint pain.
In February, President Donald Trump threatened several pharma leaders, Ricks among them, with hefty tariffs on their products if they fail to reshore their manufacturing operations. Lilly responded to the threat quickly, announcing just a few days later that it would pump $27 billion into its U.S. footprint.
At the time, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick lauded Lilly’s investment, noting that it was “exactly what [Trump] was hoping would happen.” Lilly will use the money to build four new manufacturing facilities over the next five years, which the pharma expects to create 3,000 new jobs for engineers and scientists. Construction activities, meanwhile, will open 10,000 opportunities.
Aside from Lilly, several other pharma companies have responded to Trump’s threats. Johnson & Johnson, for instance, announced last month that it would put $55 billion into its domestic manufacturing operations. Novartis followed suit earlier this month with a $23 billion boost to its U.S. presence.
