Eli Lilly invests 3 billion in Leiden: the largest life sciences project ever in the Netherlands
Pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly is building a 3 billion dollar production facility at Leiden Bio Science Park. Good for around 500 highly qualified jobs and a steep demand for technical talent.
In November 2025, Eli Lilly announced that it is building a 3 billion dollar production facility at Leiden Bio Science Park in Katwijk. That makes it the largest single investment in Dutch life sciences ever.
What is being built
The plant will produce oral medicines, including the next generation of GLP-1 therapies. Construction starts in 2026. Eli Lilly expects to create around 500 highly qualified manufacturing jobs, plus roughly 1,500 jobs during the construction phase.
Why the Netherlands
The choice strengthens the position of the Netherlands as a leading European life sciences hub. The ecosystem now counts almost 2,000 companies across biotech, medtech, digital health and pharma, with Leiden as the most important cluster alongside Oss and the Amsterdam region, among others.
What it means for technical talent
A project of this scale calls for scarce specialists: process engineers, validation and quality experts, automation engineers and commissioning specialists. It is precisely on complex, capital-intensive projects like these that FORZ connects technical professionals to clients who cannot afford to wait for talent.