ZURICH, April 22 — Roche said today that it would invest US$50 billion (RM219 billion) in the United States over the next five years, creating more than 12,000 new jobs, in the latest massive investment by companies reacting to President Donald Trump’s tariffs policy.
The Swiss pharma giant said the new positions would include nearly 6,500 in construction and 1,000 at new and expanded facilities.
The announcement comes as drugmakers unveil investments to deal with tariffs from the Trump administration, which is seeking to boost domestic manufacturing.
Fellow Swiss drugmaker Novartis earlier this month said it would spend US$23 billion in the United States, while Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson also announced sizeable investments recently.
Chief executive Thomas Schinecker said the investment underscored Roche’s commitment to the US, where it employs 25,000 people across 24 sites.
Once the new and expanded manufacturing capacity comes online, Roche will export more medicines from the US than it imports, the Basel company said.
Among the investments, Roche will expand its manufacturing and distribution centres in Kentucky, Indiana, New Jersey and California.
A new gene therapy factory will be built in Pennsylvania, along with a new plant for continuous glucose monitoring in Indiana.
A new factory to make weight loss medicines will be built, with the location yet to be announced, along with a research centre for cardiovascular, renal and metabolism studies in Massachusetts.
“Our investments of US$50 billion over the next five years will lay the foundation for our next era of innovation and growth, benefiting patients in the US and around the world,” Schinecker said in a statement.
The executive did not mention the threat of looming tariffs, with Switzerland facing a 31 per cent charge on its exports to the United States.
Last week, the Trump administration launched a probe into pharmaceutical imports, as part of a bid to impose tariffs on the sector.
The timing and extent of the levies remain uncertain, but the impact could be big, with close to US$213 billion in pharmaceutical products imported to the US last year, nearly triple 2014’s US$73 billion, according to the United Nations trade database.
— Reuters
