Novartis has announced plans to build a new flagship US manufacturing hub in North Carolina. The announcement comes as part of Novartis’ $23bn investment in US infrastructure over the next five years.

Novartis already has a manufacturing facility based in Durham, North Carolina. As part of the new hub, this facility will be updated. A new site will be built in Durham, containing two facilities dedicated to sterile packaging and biologics manufacturing.  Additionally, a new site will also be built in nearby Morrisville, containing a facility for the production of tablets and capsules.

This area of North Carolina is known as the Research Triangle, due to its being home to three major research universities and several tech companies.

The company’s planned $23bn US investment aims to allow all of Novartis’ key medicines to be end-to-end US-produced. As well as drug and packaging manufacture, many of Novartis’ technologies are produced in the US.

The hub, which is expected to open in 2027-28, will encompass more than 700,000 square feet.

AstraZeneca has announced plans to invest $2bn into the expansion of its manufacturing capabilities in Maryland in the US.

The company already has a manufacturing facility in Frederick, which currently produces biologics. The expansion will nearly double the Frederick facility’s manufacturing capacity, allowing for increased production of existing medicines as well as production of medicines for the company’s rare disease portfolio. The expanded facility will create 200 skilled jobs and 900 construction roles, and is projected to be operational in 2029.

As well as expanding capacity at Frederick, AstraZeneca also plans to build a new clinical manufacturing facility in nearby Gaithersburg. Like the Frederick facility, it is expected to be operational in 2029.

Both facilities will leverage AI, automation and data analytics, with the company saying that both will be built to the highest environmental standards.

These plans come as part of AstraZeneca’s planned $50bn US manufacturing investment, with AstraZeneca unveiling a series of US projects in the last six months.

Lilly has announced plans to build a $6bn facility in Alabama in the US for the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

The site is the third of four new US sites announced by Lilly. Among other products, it will manufacture orforglipron, Lilly’s small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist treatment for obesity, which it plans to submit for global regulatory approval by the end of 2025.

Construction of the facility is expected to begin in 2026 and finish in 2032, generating 3,000 construction jobs in the area. Additionally, the completed site will bring in 450 jobs, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians.

The Huntsville site was partly chosen for its proximity to the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. Lilly will integrate digital automation throughout the new facility, featuring technologies such as machine learning, AI and advanced data analytics.

The news comes amid other recently announced plans from Lilly, including planned new sites in Texas and Virginia and the expansion of an existing site in Puerto Rico. The announcement of another US manufacturing location is also expected.