The American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is planning on building a production plant in West Germany worth 2 billion euros ($2.17 billion), sources said.

According to Reuters, the new site would be Eli Lilly’s first major production complex in Germany.

Sources that spoke to Reuters said the project would create over 1,000 jobs when including sub-contractors as well as suppliers in the region. "This is about a four-digit number of new employees," one source said.

Sources added that Eli Lilly has scheduled news conferences in Alzey, where the plant is expected to be built, and Berlin for November 17. Eli Lilly said that it would announce “far-reaching investment plans” during these news conferences.

Eli Lilly did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Sources told Reuters November 15 that the project will be fully funded by the pharmaceutical giant.

One of the sources also said that the new site will make diabetes drugs that could potentially be used to treat obesity.

Eli Lilly, which has maintained operations in Germany since 1960, already has 1,000 employees in the country working in areas such as marketing, development and distribution.

Including the new German plant, Eli Lilly has earmarked over $8 billion for expansion investment projects in North Carolina, Indiana and Ireland over the next several years.