Recently, Eli Lilly announced plans to invest a total of $ 3 billion over the next ten years to fully expand its supply chain capacity in China .

According to the plan, the $3 billion investment will adopt a dual-track model of " internal expansion + external cooperation ": on the one hand, it will leverage the technological and talent advantages of the Suzhou factory to strengthen the synergistic production capacity of incretin injection; on the other hand, it will add oral solid dosage form production capacity in Beijing and cooperate with multiple local production partners to release incremental production capacity.

As a key move in this round of investment, Eli Lilly also announced a strategic partnership with Kanglong Chemical , a leading domestic CDMO company , on the same day. The initial investment of $200 million will support Kanglong's technological capabilities, with plans to gradually expand the scale as the company grows. This news directly boosted Kanglong Chemical's stock price the following day, with its A-shares rising over 8% and its H-shares once rising over 13%.

To date, Eli Lilly's total investment in China has reached nearly $6 billion , covering multiple strategic locations including the expansion of its Suzhou production base, the China Medical Innovation Center, and innovation incubators in Beijing and Shanghai.

orforglipron , Eli Lilly's first oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist to be submitted for registration . By the end of 2025, Eli Lilly China had submitted a marketing application to the National Medical Products Administration for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity, and it is currently under review.

The strategic significance of this move is self-evident. In 2025, Eli Lilly's injectable dual-target drug, telpotetamide, topped the global "drug king" list with annual sales of $36.507 billion. However, patient fear associated with injectable formulations, the need for cold chain storage, and travel inconvenience remain obstacles to long-term adherence. Orforglipron, as an oral alternative, aims to lower the treatment threshold , especially suitable for patients who prefer oral administration or live in areas with inadequate cold chain conditions.

The potential of the Chinese market is a key driving force. Statistics show that China has approximately 148 million people with type 2 diabetes, and over 500 million adults are affected by overweight or obesity, making it one of the world's most important markets for the treatment of metabolic diseases . With the approval process for orforglipron progressing, a battle for production capacity and market penetration surrounding oral weight-loss drugs has only just begun.

Analysts point out that this move signifies Eli Lilly's positioning of China as a key node in its global supply chain . China is transforming from the world's largest consumer market into a major global innovation and production capacity base. Through collaboration with local companies on cutting-edge technologies such as oral solid dosage forms and continuous manufacturing, the technological capabilities of local CDMO companies will be substantially enhanced, enabling them to participate in higher value-added global pharmaceutical manufacturing divisions.
In conclusion , behind the $3 billion bet lies a century-long battle over weight management, and even more so, an industrial migration driven by geoeconomic factors. As the global GLP-1 race intensifies, Eli Lilly's choice of China as its production base is both a vote for China's pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem and a reshaping of the resilience of the global supply chain. With the countdown to the approval of orforglipron underway, a "new era of joint ventures" for multinational pharmaceutical companies in China is slowly unfolding.

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