Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis said it plans to invest $23 billion over five years in construction and expansion of 10 U.S. facilities, including one in Millburn. The company said the planned increase would create 1,000 new jobs at Novartis and about 4,000 U.S. jobs overall. The company plans to expand on its current manufacturing, research and technology presence across the U.S. with 10 facilities, including seven new ones.
The announcement comes as drug companies gird for possible tariffs from the Trump administration, which has been strong-arming companies to shift manufacturing to the United States from other countries.
Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said tariffs were a consideration but not the driving factor behind the investment, Reuters reported Thursday.
The company said production capacity will cover active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and biologics drug substances, as well as secondary production and packaging.
Of the 10 facilities planned for construction or expansion over the next five years, one project is slated for Millburn. The Essex County town is home to a radioligand therapy (RLT) manufacturing facility. It is one of three RLT facilities slated for expansion. The others are in Indiana and California.
As for the other projects, Novartis will build a biomedical research innovation hub in San Diego, its second global R&D hub in the U.S. The Swiss company plans to construct four manufacturing facilities at yet-to-be-determined states. Three facilities will make biologics drug substances, drug products, device assembly and packaging, and one will make chemical drug substances, oral solids dosage forms and packaging. Novartis plans to construct two radioligand therapy (RLT) manufacturing facilities in Florida and Texas.
The company said that with new manufacturing capacity, it will be able to produce 100% of its key medicines end-to-end in the U.S.
