Gilead ups its US investment plans by $11 billion
Gilead Sciences' chief executive Daniel O'Day.
Gilead Sciences has joined the list of pharma groups hiking their capital investment plans in the US, adding $11 billion in new spending as the industry prepares for potential sector-specific tariffs.
The increase raises Gilead's plans to $32 billion out to 2030, a programme that overall includes three new facilities, alongside upgrades to three existing sites to expand the company's US manufacturing and R&D capabilities.
The company's announcement – made as it reported a 4% increase in first-quarter revenues to $6.3 million - follows announcements of multibillion-dollar facility investment projects by other big pharma groups, including AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Roche.
The investments have been interpreted as a response to President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on pharma products – a category initially exempted from the levies – in an attempt to force companies to locate their manufacturing within the US.
In a commentary on the investment, Gilead chief executive Daniel O'Day said that the company already carries out most of its R&D within the US and has "been increasing our investment in US manufacturing over the last several years, with two large-scale cell therapy sites, and we have additional investment projects underway that are expected to run through 2028."
Around $4 billion of the new tranche of funding is earmarked for capital projects, including labs and equipment, with another $5 billion aimed at "technology, operations, and R&D site activities." The remaining $2 billion will be spent on "digital and advanced engineering activities."
Gilead expects to create around 800 new jobs from the new funding allocation, with another 2,200 in indirect positions like construction, by 2028.
O'Day said that he expects the impact of the current tariffs regime imposed by the Trump administration to be "manageable" – ahead of any specific pharma levies, of course – and Gilead is maintaining its forecast for 2025 product revenues at $26.8 billion to $27.2 billion.
He did predict, however, that sales growth for HIV therapies – which grew 6% in the first quarter – is likely to be flat over the full year compared to 2024 as a result of changes to Medicare Part D.
Next month, the company is expecting to get a verdict from the FDA for its new twice-yearly formulation of lenacapavir for HIV prevention.
