Across the board, U.S. drugmakers have announced plans to build new facilities, while also expanding research and development, according to various sources.
Collectively, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, upwards of a “dozen drugmakers have pledged to spend more than $350 billion collectively by the end of this decade on manufacturing, research, and development, and other functions in the U.S.”
Last week Eli Lilly, which is based in Indianapolis, announced plans to spend upwards of $5 billion to put up a manufacturing plant in Goochland County, Viriginia. Drugs made at the facility, said the company, will go for developing active ingredients for autoimmune and cancer drugs.
That $5 million announcement follows a significantly larger commitment that the company revealed in February when it said that it planned to spend upwards of $27 billion to build a total of four new manufacturing plants in the U.S.
The company AstraZeneca, which has offices in Wilmington, Delaware, is planning to invest some $50 billion between now and 2030 building a new facility in Virginia, while adding on to existing plants in Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Texas.
The company specifically wants to expand its research and development plant in Gaithersburg, Maryland; while also making larger a specialty manufacturing presence in Coppell, Texas.
In revealing its facility construction and upgrade plans, Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s chief executive officer, said the company’s plans “underpins our belief in America’s innovation in biopharmaceuticals and our commitment of millions of patients who need our medicines in America and globally.”
GlaxoSmithKline, with offices in Philadelphia, meanwhile, announced on September 17 that it will invest upwards of $30 billion to build new research and development as well as supply chain infrastructure in the next five years.
In a statement, Emma Walmsley, chief executive officer of GSK, said the company’s new facility project will include “construction of an additional next-gen biologics flex factory, powered by AI, advanced technologies, and expert talent to produce transformational new respiratory and cancer medicines for American patients.”
The new facility construction has been described by the commercial real estate company and analysis service CRBE as essentially generational, meaning that funding on the part of the drugmakers is not focused on upgrading existing plants, but rather building new sites “from the ground up.”
September 22, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
