Roche joins the pharma firms planning big US investments

Roche has said it will spend $50 billion on manufacturing and R&D facilities in the US, with a pledge to export more medicines from the US than it imports once the investment programme is completed.

The announcement – which comes as the pharma industry is bracing for possible tariffs on the sector from the Trump administration – follows similar announcements from fellow Swiss drugmaker Novartis earlier this month, as well as US-headquartered companies Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson.

Roche is planning a long list of projects, with new builds including a gene therapy manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, a manufacturing unit for continuous glucose monitoring products, a 900,000 sq. ft. manufacturing centre for weight-loss medicines at an undecided location, and an artificial intelligence-powered R&D facility in Massachusetts focusing on cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism programmes.

There will also be upgrades to manufacturing and distribution capabilities for innovative medicines and diagnostics in Arizona, Kentucky, Indiana, New Jersey, Oregon, and California. All told, the investment programme – which is planned over five years – is expected to create more than 12,000 new jobs, including nearly 6,500 construction jobs, as well as 1,000 jobs at new and expanded facilities.

Roche chief executive Thomas Schinecker said the plans "underscore our long-standing commitment to research, development, and manufacturing in the US" and "will lay the foundation for our next era of innovation and growth, benefitting patients in the US and around the world." The announcement comes just ahead of Roche's first-quarter results update on Thursday this week.

The drug industry is still trying to understand the implications of Trump's 'liberation day' tariff announcement on 2nd April, which has caused tumult in global stock and bond markets. Switzerland is currently facing a 31% tariff rate.

This week, China – a major supplier of pharma ingredients and components and increasingly an important hub for R&D – warned other countries against forging appeasement trade deals with the US that hurt its interests. It has borne the brunt of the US levies and has responded with its own steep tariffs on imports from the US. Negotiations between the US and India – another major pharma supplier – are currently ongoing.

Roche's decision to invest heavily in the US – along with Novartis' announcement, has come hard on the heels of European pharma chiefs warning the European Commission that the EU could see a massive pivot in production and R&D to the US unless it reforms the regulatory framework for the sector.

Last week, the White House launched an investigation into pharmaceutical imports into the US, which is seen as the first stage in coming up with a tariff plan.