PRESS RELEASE Governor Inaugurates New Lilly del Caribe ...

Commonwealth of Puerto RicoOffice of the <strong>Governor</strong>La Fortalezawww.fortaleza.gobierno.prOctober 19, 2006<strong>PRESS</strong> <strong>RELEASE</strong><strong>Governor</strong> <strong>Inaugurates</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Lilly</strong> <strong>del</strong> <strong>Caribe</strong> Biotechnology Plant-- -- --$850 Million Investment; Will Generate 550 <strong>New</strong> JobsCarolina, Puerto Rico – As part of his strategy to make Puerto Rico the “BiotechnologyIsland” and in line with his public policy of “Minds at Work,” <strong>Governor</strong> Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá inaugurated today the new PR05 biotechnology plant at <strong>Lilly</strong> <strong>del</strong> <strong>Caribe</strong> in Carolina.The plant, which will be a world manufacturing center for Humalog, a fast acting insulinused to treat diabetes, has been developed with a private investment of approximately $850million, and is expected to create 550 new jobs. <strong>Lilly</strong> <strong>del</strong> <strong>Caribe</strong> is a subsidiary of Eli <strong>Lilly</strong>& Co.“A spearhead of my administration is supporting biotechnology through the expansion andestablishment of enterprises such as <strong>Lilly</strong>; to further our economic development andposition Puerto Rico as the Biotechnology Island in the eyes of the world,” said AníbalAcevedo Vilá. The <strong>Governor</strong> made the announcement while accompanied by the Mayor ofCarolina, José Aponte; the Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce, RicardoRivera; PRIDCO’s Executive Director, Boris Jaskille; <strong>Lilly</strong> <strong>del</strong> <strong>Caribe</strong> President, SeamosMalones; <strong>Lilly</strong> USA Senior Vice President, Paul Ahem; Plant Manager, Lourdes Colón,and a group of the Plant’s employees.The new plant comprises 570,000 square feet of manufacturing space and is now the largestmodular biotechnology plant in the world. For the manufacture of Humalog, the plant has126,000 liters in fermentation capacity, distributed in three bioreactors of 42,000 literseach.The <strong>Governor</strong> said that under his new “Minds at Work” policy, in the last two months fourmulti-million dollar expansions in biosciences and high technology have been announced:Infotech in Isabela, Hamilton Sundstrand in Santa Isabel, Pall Life Sciences in Fajardo, andMicrosoft in Humacao, representing a total investment of $171 million and the creation of818 new jobs in the private sector.

2With a total annual payroll of $23 million, the new <strong>Lilly</strong> plant creates 550 new well paidjobs, most of which are at the level of doctor’s, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in thefields of natural sciences and engineering, Acevedo-Vilá said, while emphasizing theefforts made by this Administration to retain human capital on the Island.“It is anticipated that during 2007 products manufactured at <strong>Lilly</strong> <strong>del</strong> <strong>Caribe</strong> in Puerto Ricowill supply 46% of the global sales of the corporation, up from 36%”, the <strong>Governor</strong> said.<strong>Lilly</strong> has more than 1,700 current employees and more than 500 retired employees inPuerto Rico. It operates five manufacturing plants on this island and one sales andmarketing office. There are three plants in Carolina, including the one inaugurated today,one in Mayagüez, and another one in Guayama, with the sales and marketing office in HatoRey.<strong>Lilly</strong> invests more than $300 million per year on the Island in payroll, benefit payments,purchase of products and services and taxes paid on payroll and investment on machineryand equipment.Acevedo-Vilá thanked <strong>Lilly</strong> <strong>del</strong> <strong>Caribe</strong> executives for placing their trust in Puerto Rico.The <strong>Governor</strong> also recognized Puerto Rico’s economic development team (Ricardo Riveraand Boris Jaskille). Since the onset of his “Work, Work, Work” agenda in 2005, a total of197 projects have been promoted with the promise of generating 11,749 new jobs and anestimated investment of $466.5 million.Contact: Carmen Serrano, Assistant Press Secretary (787)-721-9166)