In a bid to preempt steep tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump, major pharmaceutical firms have collectively committed “combined $158 billion in U.S. manufacturing spending” to reshore operations. That capital will be scattered across the U.S., spanning from California’s biotech hub to North Carolina’s Research Triangle, with Texas, Pennsylvania and Indiana also slated for investment.
In February, Eli Lilly unveiled plans to dedicate $27 billion for U.S. manufacturing, adding to a total of $50 billion spent domestically since 2020. The company intends to spread this funding across four new facilities: three will produce “active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for small molecule drugs”, while the fourth is earmarked for future injectable therapies. Lilly projects these sites will create about 3,000 new jobs.
Although specific locations remain undecided, Lilly has engaged in negotiations with several states and invited further interest by March 12. According to a company spokesperson, they “received numerous submissions.” Final site selections will be announced later this year.
Following Lilly’s announcement, Johnson & Johnson committed $55 billion to U.S. manufacturing and R&D over four years, marking a 25% increase compared to its prior four-year investment cycle. CEO Joaquin Duato simultaneously broke ground on a new North Carolina facility designed to support 500 positions once operational.
In March, Swiss-based Novartis joined the wave with a $23 billion investment over five years. Initial plans include a biomedical research innovation hub in San Diego and two radioligand manufacturing plants in Florida and Texas. The program will ultimately encompass ten facilities—seven of them new—with three dedicated to biologics manufacturing, drug-product formulation, and device assembly and packaging. Novartis stated the initiative will ensure “all key Novartis medicines for U.S. patients will be made in the U.S.”
Close behind J&J’s outlay, Roche announced plans to allocate $50 billion toward expanding its U.S. footprint. The funding will support a new gene-therapy manufacturing site in Pennsylvania, an R&D center in Massachusetts, and a production facility in Indiana, alongside upgrades at existing campuses.
Regeneron has pledged a more modest but significant $3 billion commitment through a collaboration with Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, leveraging the latter’s newly built North Carolina facility to bolster domestic biologics production.
