British biopharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca plans to invest $50 billion in the U.S. by 2030, the company announced on Monday.
The investment is expected to create tens of thousands of new, highly skilled direct and indirect jobs across the U.S., AstraZeneca said. The “cornerstone” of the investment is a proposed new multibillion-dollar manufacturing facility in Virginia that will produce drug substances for the company’s weight management portfolio that includes oral GLP-1 medications. AstraZeneca said the facility will be its largest single manufacturing investment in the world.
“Today’s announcement underpins our belief in America’s innovation in biopharmaceuticals and our commitment to the millions of patients who need our medicines in America and globally,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in a statement. “I look forward to partnering with Governor Youngkin and his team to work on our largest single manufacturing investment ever. It reflects the Commonwealth of Virginia’s desire to create highly-skilled jobs in science and technology, and will strengthen the country’s domestic supply chain for medicines.”
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The investment also includes: expansion of its R&D facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland; R&D center in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts; next-generation manufacturing facilities for cell therapy in Rockville, Maryland and Tarzana, California; continuous manufacturing expansion in Mount Vernon, Indiana; specialty manufacturing expansion in Coppell, Texas; new sites to supply clinical trials; and growing research and development investment in novel medicines.
“We are proud that AstraZeneca has made the decision to bring substantial pharmaceutical production to our shores,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement. “This historic investment is bringing tens of thousands of jobs to the US and will ensure medicine sold in our country is produced right here.”
AstraZeneca also announced last November $3.5 billion of capital investment in the country, focused on R&D and manufacturing. The company said it included $2 billion of new investment that would create more than 1,000 new, high-skilled jobs in the U.S.
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Part of the investment included a $300 million cell therapy manufacturing plant located in Maryland that opened in May. Once in operation, the site will use a relatively new cancer treatment called CAR-T cell therapy to help treat blood cancers like lymphoma and leukemia.
The U.S. is AstraZeneca’s largest market and represents 42% of the company’s total revenue. The pharma giant’s goal is to increase that figure to 50% by 2030.
AstraZeneca employs 18,000 people and supports 92,000 jobs overall in the U.S. It also currently has 19 R&D, manufacturing and commercial sites in the country.
The company said it contributed $5 billion directly to the nation’s economy and created about $20 billion worth of overall value for the U.S. economy.
Monday’s announcement marks the latest investment in America under the Trump administration.
Other drugmakers, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson, previously announced intentions to invest billions in the U.S. for R&D, manufacturing and factory expansions.
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