Novartis breaks ground on $771M North Carolina manufacturing hub

Novartis, a global medicines company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, has broken ground on a more than 700,000-square-foot manufacturing hub in North Carolina, marking the start of construction on a major U.S. production investment, according to the company.

The $771 million project includes a new manufacturing facility in Morrisville, two new facilities at a site in Durham, and the expansion of an existing Novartis manufacturing operation in Durham. Novartis said the combined investment is expected to create about 700 direct jobs in North Carolina by 2030 and support more than 3,000 indirect jobs across its U.S. supply chain. 

The North Carolina hub is a key component of the company’s previously announced $23 billion investment in U.S.-based manufacturing and research infrastructure over the next five years.

Once operational, the site is expected to play a central role in Novartis’ U.S. manufacturing network, enabling end-to-end production across its core therapeutic areas and supporting domestic supply of key medicines at commercial scale, the company said. The facilities are anticipated to open between 2027 and 2028, respectively.

The groundbreaking follows a series of recent U.S. manufacturing and research investments by Novartis. In California, the company has opened a radioligand therapy manufacturing facility in Carlsbad and announced plans for a $1.1 billion biomedical research hub in San Diego. Additional radioligand manufacturing expansions are underway in Indiana and New Jersey, with new facilities planned in Florida and Texas.

Novartis stated that the North Carolina manufacturing hub advances its strategy to localize the production of key medicines for U.S. patients, while expanding capacity, enhancing supply chain resilience, and supporting long-term operational growth in the U.S.