AbbVie plans $1.4 billion pharmaceutical campus in Durham, North Carolina

AbbVie is making a $1.4 billion bet on U.S. manufacturing, unveiling plans to build a 185-acre pharmaceutical campus in Durham, North Carolina, near Research Triangle Park. Construction is set to begin this year, with completion expected by the end of 2028, and the site will combine advanced manufacturing, laboratory facilities, and artificial intelligence to produce medicines across AbbVie’s immunology, neuroscience, and oncology portfolios.

The first phase will include small volume parenteral drug product manufacturing facilities, next-generation laboratories, a warehouse, administrative offices, and employee wellness spaces, with capacity built in for future pipeline expansion. Once complete, the site will serve as AbbVie’s U.S. center of excellence for SVP manufacturing, producing sterile injectable medicines such as vials, prefilled syringes, and cartridges used in treatment and infusion therapies.

Over the next four years, AbbVie plans to hire 734 employees, including engineers, scientists, manufacturing operators, and laboratory technicians, while also generating more than 2,000 construction jobs during development. The company said the investment is its largest capital investment to date and an expansion of its manufacturing footprint into a new region of the United States.

AbbVie currently employs about 29,000 people in the United States, including more than 6,000 across its manufacturing sites. The Durham campus follows more than $2.2 billion in U.S. manufacturing investments over the past year and a commitment to expand hiring and production capacity across multiple states, including North Carolina, Illinois, and Arizona.