US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly plans to significantly scale back a planned multibillion dollar investment in a new production facility in western Germany.
The company blamed the German government’s cost-cutting measures in the health care sector for the decision to drastically scale-back its project in the town of Alzey.
Eli Lilly had previously intended to invest $2.5 billion in the site, one of the largest pharmaceutical investments in Germany in recent years.
Chief executive Dave Ricks told the Handelsblatt newspaper that Germany would fall to the bottom of European markets in terms of support for the pharmaceutical industry under the planned act known as the Stabilization of Contribution Rates for Statutory Health Insurance.
As a result of the current health policy direction in Germany, the company announced that it now plans to reduce the outstanding scope of the project by 50% compared to the original plans.
For now, only the "minimum scope of the high-tech production site" is to be completed, Ricks said.
