Eric Arocho is associate vice president at Eli Lilly and Company and the site lead on the company’s facility in Goochland County, announced last year. The Goochland facility, expected to be completed within the next five years, will produce both critical drug components and finished medicines to support Lilly’s emerging bioconjugate platform and monoclonal antibody portfolio.
VEDP: Was there anything about Virginia’s approach — speed, partnership model, or long-term alignment — that surprised you or set it apart from peer regions?
Arocho: Goochland County was chosen from hundreds of applicants, and what stood out was the community’s readiness to grow with us. The Greater Richmond region has the talent, drive, and readiness to grow alongside us, and that matters deeply to Lilly. We’re not just building a facility here. We’re building a long-term partnership with a community we believe in, all in service of getting medicines to the patients who need them.
VEDP: The industry is rethinking supply chain resilience and domestic manufacturing. How does this Virginia investment support Lilly’s broader strategy to ensure reliable access to medicines for patients in the U.S. and globally?
