Global pharmaceutical giant Roche, based in Switzerland, announced plans to invest $50 billion (about 71 trillion won) in the United States over the next five years.
This year, major global pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), and Swiss-based Novartis have announced large-scale production facility investment plans in the United States. This is interpreted as a response to U.S. President Donald Trump's pressure to produce pharmaceuticals domestically by imposing tariffs on drugs that were previously tariff-free.
On the 22nd (local time), Roche announced plans to invest $50 billion in the United States over the next five years to establish and expand manufacturing and research and development (R&D) facilities.
According to the company, a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility will be built in the United States, covering 900,000 square feet (about 83,612 square meters). This facility is expected to produce next-generation obesity treatments being developed by Roche. The location of the manufacturing facility has not been disclosed.
Roche announced plans to establish a continuous glucose monitoring device manufacturing plant in Indiana and a state-of-the-art gene therapy production facility in Pennsylvania.
The investment plan also includes the construction of a new R&D center in Massachusetts. The company explained that the center will become a hub for research on cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases.
Additionally, Roche plans to expand its existing pharmaceutical and diagnostic R&D centers in Arizona, Indiana, and California, as well as strengthen the capabilities of its manufacturing and distribution facilities located in Kentucky, Indiana, New Jersey, Oregon, and California.
Roche currently has 24 facilities and about 25,000 employees across eight states in the United States. The company projected that this investment will create approximately 1,000 new jobs.
Thomas Schinecker, CEO of Roche, stated during the announcement, "This investment reflects our long-standing commitment to research, development, and manufacturing in the United States" and added, "This move will lay the foundation for innovation and growth for patients in the U.S. and around the world." He noted, "Once this investment is completed, the overseas export of pharmaceuticals produced in the United States will exceed the imports of Roche pharmaceuticals into the United States."
While announcing their investment plans in the United States, global big pharma companies did not directly mention Trump's tariff policy. However, the Trump administration indicated its intent to impose tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals and demanded that production facilities be located in the U.S.
In February, President Trump met privately with CEOs of major U.S. pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Merck (MSD), and Pfizer at the White House, and reportedly pressured them to relocate production facilities to the United States.
Following this, in February, Eli Lilly announced plans to invest $27 billion (about 39 trillion won) to build four production facilities in the United States. Subsequently, in March, J&J announced it would invest $55 billion (about 79 trillion won) to establish three new production facilities and expand existing facilities in the U.S. On the 10th, Novartis announced plans to invest $23 billion (about 33 trillion won) over the next five years to establish and expand 10 production facilities in the United States.
Pharmaceuticals were excluded from the reciprocal tariff targets announced by President Trump this month. However, the Trump administration is considering imposing separate tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
Concerns are growing in Europe following the announcement of U.S. tariff policies. The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) warned Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission (EU), that "if Europe does not make a swift and radical policy shift, there could be billions of euros in lost investments in biopharmaceuticals." The lack of policy change from the EU may reduce investment incentives in the EU and accelerate the outflow of investment, R&D, and manufacturing infrastructure to the United States.