By Helena Smolak

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche plans to invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years, the latest major spending commitment by a big drugmaker as the industry faces President Trump's tariff threats.

Pharma companies have in recent months set out plans to ramp up investments in the U.S. to boost local production and create jobs as the Trump administration prepares to impose tariffs on medicine imports--which have so far been exempted from such levies--and seeks to revive domestic manufacturing.

Roche's move follows in the footsteps of a pledge by Swiss peer Novartis to spend $23 billion over the next five years to expand its footprint in the U.S. earlier this month. Meanwhile, last month Johnson & Johnson said it was increasing U.S. spending to more than $55 billion over the next four years, while Eli Lilly in February outlined plans for a $27 billion investment to build four new manufacturing plants in the country.

The investment by Roche will fund new research hubs and new and expanded manufacturing facilities in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and California, the company said Tuesday. The company said that investment would create 1,000 jobs at Roche and more than 11,000 elsewhere including nearly 6,500 construction jobs.

The company currently has 15 R&D centers and 13 manufacturing sites in the U.S., employing more than 25,000 people.

Roche said it would export more medicines from the U.S. than it imports once its new and expanded manufacturing site are in operation. The group's diagnostics division currently already holds an surplus from the U.S., it said.

Basel-headquartered Roche plans to create a new manufacturing center to produce weight-loss drugs, for which it will announce the location soon. It aims to create a new gene-therapy manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, a new R&D center in Massachusetts and one for continuous glucose monitoring in Indiana. Its investments also entail expanded research and manufacturing capabilities at eight existing sites.

"Today's announced investments underscore our long-standing commitment to research, development and manufacturing in the U.S.," Chief Executive Thomas Schinecker said.

The announcement comes as the pharmaceutical industry braces for potential tariffs on drugs imported into the U.S. Trump said earlier that a major tariff on pharma products were coming "very shortly."

"These newly announced investments should help to not trigger additional tariffs for the Swiss pharma industry that could severely jeopardize industry's global supply chains for drugs manufacturing and distribution--putting patients' lives at risk," Vontobel analyst Stefan Schneider said in a note to clients.

Write to Helena Smolak at helena.smolak@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 22, 2025 04:15 ET (08:15 GMT)

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