Facility and jobs saved in IN

Good news came to Lafayette, IN, last week when Eli Lilly announced a buyer for its Tippecanoe Labs, rescuing the jobs of 700 full-time workers. Evonik Industries of Germany will take over the plant, about 60 miles north of Indianapolis, making active pharmaceutical ingredients for specialty chemical and animal health products.

Evonik will manufacture ingredients for Lilly as part of the deal, according to a local press report. The plant, dating from the 1950s, has been used in the making of APIs for such big-name drugs as Prozak, the antidepressant, and Cialis, for erectile dysfunction. In the early 1990s, it employed some 1,500.

Lilly wanted out of the facility because of the upcoming loss of patent protection and exclusivity for products whose ingredients were made there. Another factor was equipment, some of which had become unsuitable as the company increases its efforts on biologics, according to an industry report.

"Tippe" will become Evonik's first U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. The company said it plans to expand the site, which becomes part of its global production network.

- here's the article
- read the industry report