From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Serafino Fabiano, associate vice president and site lead for Eli Lilly and Company’s Kenosha facility.
After the company acquired the property in 2024, the pharmaceutical company announced plans for a $3 billion investment in Wisconsin for the injectable medicine production site.
“In 18 months, we were able to move from the acquisition to the FDA approval and make medicine for our patients,” Fabiano said. “And I would say that the best is yet to come. If you drive by our site you will see cranes still being raised, so definitely exciting times ahead for Lilly Kenosha, our patients and our community.”
Fabiano discusses the company’s strategy around injectable drugs and supporting treatments for people with diabetes, obesity and other conditions.
“Since November of last year, we are actively making medicine for our patients, specifically we are producing Zepbound and Mounjaro,” he said of the Kenosha facility’s work.
The facility is expected to support 750 “highly skilled jobs” such as operators, technicians, engineers and scientists, while the construction phase alone will support thousands of jobs over multiple years. Plus, the company is hiring local contractors for security, groundskeeping and other services.
Fabiano says southeastern Wisconsin attracted the company’s attention due to its strategic location, skilled workforce and “supportive ecosystem” for drug production.
“We are advancing in Wisconsin innovative manufacturing capabilities,” he said. “We are building capacity for the medicines of tomorrow, creating high-quality jobs and ensuring also that patients here and around the world have access to life-changing treatments.”
The investment in the state comes amid rising demand for these drugs, Fabiano explains, adding the company’s pipeline is being strengthened through projects like the Kenosha site. He said the company aims to “be sure we can reliably provide today’s medicine” while preparing for coming breakthroughs in the pharmaceutical field.
Eli Lilly and Company has committed more than $50 billion since 2020 to expand its manufacturing capacity around the world, Fabiano added.
“This has been an interesting and exciting ride,” he said. “We are at the beginning of the journey. This investment reflects the company’s confidence in Wisconsin people, talent, ecosystem and future.”
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— Wisconsin has joined 22 other states in suing to block Trump administration rules threatening to cut off family planning funding unless recipients show they’re aligned with the president’s policies on issues such as DEI and gender-affirming care.
“The Trump administration is again abusing its authority by conditioning federal funding on falling in line with parts of its ideological agenda,” Dem Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement. “Title X funding should not be influenced by this kind of partisan interference.”
The restrictions, published in a new rules package last month, include moving the funding away from contraception and toward family planning and abstinence, while calling for an end to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and requiring the recognition of only two genders.
The suit argues the new conditions were unlawfully imposed and conflict with laws and regulations that require providers to offer a broad range of contraceptive methods and to serve all patients, including those who are LGBTQ+, in a nondiscriminatory manner.
According to the state Department of Justice, Wisconsin’s Title X funding served more than 7,300 people last year.
See more in the DOJ release below.
— The head of Leo Cancer Care says a new collaboration with GE HealthCare “is a clear signal” that its upright radiation therapy approach is gaining traction with industry leaders.
The Middleton-based business today announced the commercial partnership with GE Healthcare, which will explore how the companies’ radiation therapy technology and software can complement one another.
It has a specific focus on GE’s AI-supported iRT software platform for radiation therapy, seeking to address “longstanding challenges” in this field of cancer treatment. That includes care environments with multiple vendors, issues with system interoperability, “fragmented” clinical workflows, patient experience and more.
Stephen Towe, CEO of Leo Cancer Care, notes GE HealthCare is “one of the most established names” globally for medical imaging.
“Its decision to partner with Leo Cancer Care, is a clear signal that upright radiation therapy is being recognised at the highest levels of our industry,” he said in today’s announcement.
Meanwhile, GE HealthCare Global Head of Oncology Ben Newton says the collaboration could “reduce the time from imaging to treatment” for cancer patients.
See the release below.
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