Monday, Bristol Myers Squibb helmsman Chris Boerner joined a growing list of life sciences leaders announcing major U.S. investments in the face of potential pharmaceutical import tariffs. At the same time, however, the CEO took the opportunity to strike back against the Trump administration’s trade policies, federal health layoffs and funding cuts that have dominated the industry’s attention in recent months.
BMS plans to invest $40 billion across U.S. R&D, technology and manufacturing over the next five years, Boerner said in an op-ed published by Stat this week.
The project is expected to grow BMS’ footprint around the country, bolster production of cancer-fighting radiopharmaceuticals and deepen the company’s expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, Boerner said in the piece.
But BMS’ investment in the U.S. shouldn’t be mistaken as an open endorsement of the potential pharmaceutical tariffs being threatened by President Donald Trump and his team. The administration’s broader trade policy is seeking, among other aims, to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing of medications and other goods.
“We are motivated by the fact that our medicines can change the lives of patients,” Boerner said. “But that belief hinges on government policies that encourage highly risky investments and facilitate access. Right now, we have significant concerns that some potential policies surfacing in Washington could threaten the health of Americans and the U.S. economy.”
While pharmaceutical-specific import tariffs have been threatened by the administration on multiple occasions, duties targeting the sector were excluded from Trump’s “Liberation Day” reveal of baseline and reciprocal trade penalties early last month.
But an ongoing Section 232 investigation of pharmaceutical imports by the administration suggests industry-specific tariffs are still very much on the table. Industry watchers have speculated that potential pharmaceutical import duties could land at a rate of around 25%.
Boerner presented the administration’s efforts as an existential conundrum for U.S. biopharma, which he said forms a “foundational pillar of the American economy.”
In the U.S. alone, commercial- and clinical-stage drugmakers drive nearly $117 billion in annual research and employ more than 300,000 manufacturing workers, Boerner said, citing data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics and the industry trade group PhRMA.
That said, the U.S.’ preeminence in the field “didn’t happen by accident and it isn’t guaranteed,” the CEO cautioned, ascribing the country’s current biopharma authority to “intentional and stable policies that connect the U.S. government, academia, and the private sector.”
Boerner was also quick to point out that other countries, such as China, are seeking to take the mantle of global biopharma leader from the U.S. The CEO highlighted a drop in the U.S.’ share of global life sciences patents from 50% in 2010 to 37% in 2022, noting that China raised its share of biopharma IP from roughly 17% to 42% over that same period. He also acknowledged efforts by other countries to recruit scientific talent, adding that it’s clear the U.S. does “not have a monopoly on innovation or talent.”
In turn, domestic drugmakers “cannot afford to grow complacent at this critical moment,” Boerner said. “It is America’s leadership and Americans’ access to the most cutting-edge treatments that hang in the balance.”
Boerner said he isn’t completely opposed to the efforts being championed by the current administration, highlighting in particular the importance of bolstering U.S. medicine manufacturing. Still, he suggested, supportive tax policies—rather than tariffs—are the best way to spur American R&D and other investments, while challenges to pharma middlemen remain the best course of action to address steep drug costs.
Policies that “undermine regulatory certainty, eliminate funding for basic medical research, or weaken intellectual property make it incrementally harder, if not impossible, to discover the next breakthroughs,” he said.
Aside from tariffs and federal health agency cuts, BMS’ CEO challenged other countries to earmark more from their healthcare budgets to support innovation. Should the playing field for innovative medicine investment level out between the U.S. and other nations, Boerner said BMS would “willingly reinvest those additional revenues back to the U.S.”
In closing, he stressed that “now is not the time to retreat.”
“With the right policies, we can strengthen our leadership, ensure Americans have affordable access to the most cutting-edge medicines, and propel scientific advancements for patients everywhere,” he said.
Since Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January, his administration has repeatedly talked up tariffs on drugs and spearheaded efforts to cut thousands of staffers and reduce the budgets at federal health agencies like the FDA and the National Institutes of Health. The efforts have sparked major concern about the fallout the decisions could eventually cause for drugmakers and other healthcare firms in the U.S.
Many experts have surmised that the potential negative consequences tied to supply, drug costs and access will likely hit American patients the hardest.
Meanwhile, Boerner is in good company critiquing the second Trump administration’s trade policies and life sciences reforms.
Late last week, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks stated in no uncertain terms that his company doesn’t “believe tariffs are the right mechanism” to spur more investment in the U.S. Like Boerner, Ricks pointed to “enhanced” tax incentives—or an extension of the country’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—as “better tools” to drive U.S. life sciences spending.
Johnson & Johnson chief executive Joaquin Duato and AbbVie Chief Financial Officer Scott Reents have also come out in opposition to pharma tariffs in recent weeks.
Nevertheless, each drugmaker that has critiqued Trump’s actions has also shown a willingness to acquiesce in the near term through major domestic investment pledges.
Lilly said in late February that it would pump $27 billion into a quartet of new U.S. manufacturing facilities, more than doubling its previous domestic production commitment. More recently, AbbVie in late April unveiled a $10 billion U.S. investment that will pay out over the next 10 years as the Chicago-based drugmaker continues to grow in areas like obesity. And biopharma powerhouses Novartis, J&J, Roche, Regeneron and Thermo Fisher have also made major commitments to up their U.S. spending over the coming years.