Prince William says loss of Lilly plant won’t deter its development efforts

by Heather B. Hayes
for Virginia Business
March 2007

Economic development officials in Prince William County are disappointed by Eli Lilly’s decision to abandon its $325 million insulin manufacturing plant, which was under construction in the Innovation @ Prince William Technology Park in Manassas.

“We’re losing an internationally recognized name and the market­ability that comes with it,” says Jason Grant, a Prince William spokesman. The county believed that having such a high-profile player would help it attract other life-science and biotech companies. “But we’re a very diverse business economy here, so while it definitely hurts to lose a project of this size, we’ve been pretty successful in the last few years, and there’s no reason to think that won’t continue.”

Grant says that the county attracted economic development investments of $247 million in 2005 and $205 million last year. Since 2002, the county has announced projects worth more than $1.1 billion — not including the Lilly plant.

Biotechnology companies continue to move into the county, attracted largely by George Mason University’s Life Science Campus, located in Innovation Park. Media Tech, a major cell culture and bio-process systems company, is building its headquarters and a 100,000-square-foot bio-manufacturing facility. In addition, Waterford Development will build 640,000 square feet of laboratory and office space for biotech and life-sciences companies.

Lilly halted the Prince William County project in January so that it could better support its product portfolio and drug pipeline, says Scott Canute, Lilly’s vice president for manufacturing operations.

Demand for insulin products continues to grow but not at the level that Lilly expected in 2002 when it decided to build the 300,000-square-foot factory. Canute says the company now expects to meet demand by using existing sites and increasing capacity at its plant in Italy.

The company has offered the 120 local employees that it already had hired severance packages or jobs elsewhere in the company. Lilly has also returned the estimated $4.5 million it received in economic development incentives.