Pharmaceutical companies in Indiana: 35 plants, the biggest average site in the country

This report is for people looking for Indiana drug companies: scientists and operators weighing employers, contract manufacturers and suppliers looking for customers, and sellers deciding how to cover a state dominated by a few large sites. It brings together the Census count, FDA's site register, the companies' 10-Ks and Indiana's licensing rules.

Indiana in the Census data

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 3254 (Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing), Indiana:

Indiana's 394.3 employees per establishment is the highest of any state; North Carolina is next at 312 (our calculation from the CBP state file).

The Census Bureau doesn't publish the 5 to 9 or 1,000 or more cells for Indiana. The published classes add up to 32, so 3 establishments fall in the two withheld classes between them.

By county, Marion has 9 establishments and 7,309 employees, Hamilton 4 and 200, Monroe 3 and 2,574, and Elkhart 3, whose employee total the Census Bureau published but flagged as high-noise (its confidentiality noise moved the value by 5% or more). The other counties' figures are withheld.

CBP tallies places of work with paid employees, not companies, so one firm can appear several times, and it omits the self-employed. Lilly's head office and its research labs may be classed outside this code, and so are distributors: Indiana has 88 drug wholesale establishments (NAICS 424210) with 6,464 employees and 57 biotechnology R&D establishments (NAICS 541714) with 2,158.

Registered drug sites

FDA's register of drug sites, the Drug Establishments Current Registration Site (DECRS), shows what each location told FDA it does. Our tally from the 30 October 2026 download:

Indianapolis has 26 registrations, Bloomington and Mooresville 6 each. The 23 feed mills reflect Indiana's farm economy rather than its drug industry. The drug manufacturers include:

Isotopia USA (Westfield), Orano Med (Brownsburg), Arizona Isotopes Science Research (Bunker Hill), SpectronRx (Indianapolis, South Bend and Bunker Hill), Lannett (Seymour) and Cook Biotech (West Lafayette) also hold registrations. Registering is something the company does itself; it isn't an approval.

Listed companies headquartered in Indiana

EDGAR shows three listed companies in SIC codes 2833 to 2836 with Indiana addresses. Checked in each latest 10-K:

Lilly's 10-K says its major production sites include facilities in Indiana and that its owned research facilities are in Indiana. It also says POINT Biopharma, which Lilly bought in December 2023, has radiopharmaceutical discovery, development and manufacturing capabilities. Lilly is the largest drugmaker in the world by medicines revenue; see the largest pharmaceutical companies. Bristol Myers Squibb, based in New Jersey, says in its 10-K that it opened a radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Indianapolis in 2025.

Indiana's licensing rules

The Indiana Board of Pharmacy's licensing page sets out the rules for distributors:

• Wholesale drug distributors must obtain and keep accreditation from NABP, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Licences expire on 30 September of even-numbered years; renewal costs $100 and needs a copy of the accreditation certificate.
• Third-party logistics providers have their own licence with the same expiry and fee, plus an inspection report at renewal.
• Manufacturers appear under the state's controlled substance registration, which asks them to describe their products and manufacturing procedures.

Check inspection history on FDA's Data Dashboard. For introductions, BioCrossroads works on growing the state's life sciences industry and the Indiana Life Sciences Association connects companies, universities and government.

For job seekers, the employers are few and large: Marion and Monroe counties hold 9,883 of the 13,799 manufacturing jobs, at an average of $122,449 a year statewide.

Selling to Indiana drugmakers

Worked example: a specialty logistics firm

Illustrative example. The firm and its prices are invented; the registrant names come from FDA's file.

Crossroads Isotope Logistics (crossroadsiso.example) moves time-critical, temperature-controlled and radioactive shipments.

1. Name the accounts. Novartis Manufacturing, POINT Biopharma, Curium, Isotopia, Orano Med, SpectronRx, Arizona Isotopes and Cardinal Health, which has two Indianapolis registrations: 8 companies.
2. Map two people per account. The supply chain lead and the radiation safety officer.
3. Do the arithmetic. Six first conversations, 3 trial lanes and 2 contracts at $90,000 a year: $180,000 from eight accounts.

With so few accounts, depth matters more than volume; Bebop researches each account and writes a playbook with who to contact and what's happening at the company.

Subject: Same-day lanes out of [town]

Hi [first name],

[Company] is registered with FDA for [API manufacture / manufacture] at its [town] site.

Supply chain leads shipping short-lived products tell us the risk isn't the flight, it's the hand-off at each end.

We run dedicated, tracked lanes from central Indiana with trained drivers and documented chain of custody. Would a 20-minute call to look at one lane you're worried about be useful?

[Your name]
[Phone number]

Next step: compare the Midwest's other large market in the Chicago pharmaceutical market report.