Amid the pharma industry's breakneck onshoring push this past year, North Carolina has been a major beneficiary as investment announcements rolled in from the likes of Roche, Biogen and Amgen. Now, Novartis is ready to significantly boost its presence in the state.
Wednesday, the Swiss pharma giant rolled out a plan to establish a "flagship manufacturing hub" in the Tar Heel State. While Novartis already operates a gene therapy production site in Durham, the company plans to expand that site and add two more in the same city. In addition, Novartis plans to establish a new plant in Morrisville, North Carolina, the company said in a Nov. 19 announcement.
Specifically, the company plans to build two new facilities in Durham for biologics and sterile packaging, according to the release. Novartis' new site in Morrisville will specialize in solid dosage tablets and capsules, including packaging capabilities.
Back in Durham, the company's existing site will grow to add biologic sterile filling capabilities, Novartis said.
Altogether, the company's investments in Durham and Morrisville will total up to $771 million, according to a press release from Gov. Josh Stein.
Durham and Morrisville are about a 20-minute drive apart. The planned facilities' proximity to one another will allow Novartis' production teams to collaborate and find efficiencies in various parts of the manufacturing process, the company said.
Novartis expects the expansion in North Carolina will add 700 new employees to its ranks. The manufacturing campus will span some 700,000 square feet between new and existing space and will come online in the 2027-2028 timeframe, according to the drugmaker.
Besides growing overall capacity, Novartis said the hub will enable "end-to-end" production of all of the company's key medicines in the U.S.
Back in April, Novartis unveiled plans to spend $23 billion to build and expand 10 U.S. facilities over a 5-year span. The project in North Carolina falls under that initiative, the company said Wednesday.
“By building a full, end-to-end manufacturing presence in North Carolina for our broader portfolio, we are expanding our capacity to deliver medical breakthroughs, securing a more resilient U.S. supply chain, and investing in the local communities that make our mission possible," Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said in the release.
North Carolina has enjoyed a steady influx pharma manufacturing commitments this year. Among the eye-popping spending pledges that have come through in the past few months alone, Roche is working on a $700 million plant for obesity drugs in Holly Springs, while Biogen is deploying $2 billion to expand throughout the state.