Johnson & Johnson to Invest Over $1 Billion in Pennsylvania Cell Therapy Manufacturing Facility

Johnson & Johnson announced a more than $1 billion investment to build a new cell therapy manufacturing facility in Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania. The facility will create 4,000 construction jobs and 500 skilled biomanufacturing jobs once fully operational.

The site, located in Montgomery County approximately 60 miles from the company's New Brunswick headquarters, will expand manufacturing capacity for medicines targeting cancer, immune-mediated disorders, and neurological diseases. The company currently has one approved cell therapy, Carvykti, for adults with certain types of multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in plasma cells in the bone marrow.

The announcement is part of a previously announced $55 billion investment strategy in manufacturing, research and development, and technology across the United States through early 2029. This includes new construction and major capacity expansions concentrated mainly in North Carolina and Pennsylvania as part of a coordinated domestic manufacturing initiative. The strategic expansion ensures that the vast majority of advanced medicines will be manufactured in the U.S. to directly serve the domestic market.

The company already has 10 facilities in Pennsylvania, with an estimated annual economic impact of about $10 billion. This includes more than 2 million square feet dedicated to manufacturing, research, distribution, and offices.

The project is supported by a $41.5 million investment from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The company received a funding proposal from the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development for up to $12 million in tax credits through the Qualified Manufacturing Innovation and Reinvestment Deduction program, up to $2 million in tax credits through the Manufacturing Tax Credit program, a $15 million grant through the PA SITES program, and a $10 million Pennsylvania First grant.

Pennsylvania has also committed to providing a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program award of up to $2.5 million to a local community college and/or technical school to help create a workforce development training program that would serve as a talent pipeline for the company in Montgomery County. The company is also receiving assistance through Pennsylvania's Office of Transformation and Opportunity on the project via the PA Permit Fast Track Program.

The CEO stated that by uniting scientific excellence with state-of-the-art manufacturing and strategic investment, and by working collaboratively with communities, the company is delivering for patients and creating significant opportunities for workers and families.

Major drugmakers, including Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, have also committed billions of dollars in investments to scale up their U.S. footprint in response to recent policy efforts, including tariff threats. The U.S. government imposed a 100% tariff on branded drugs in October, but said it would only apply to producers that had not already broken ground on U.S. manufacturing plants.

In August, the drugmaker said it would invest $2 billion for a manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina under a 10-year agreement with Tokyo-based contract drug developer Fujifilm Biotechnologies.