Novartis announced this week another leg in its $23-billion US capital investment plan—a new API manufacturing facility in North Carolina. Is the company’s manufacturing strategy aligning with its overall growth strategy?

By Patricia Van Arnum, Editorial Director, DCAT, pvanarnum@dcat.org

Building its US footprint
Novartis has taken another step in advancing its US manufacturing footprint by announcing plans to add a new facility in Morrisville, North Carolina, focused on active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing for solid dosage tablets, capsules, and RNA therapeutics. It marks the company’s seventh new facility planned as part of its previously announced $23- billion investment in US-based manufacturing, research, and development. The new 56,200-square-foot facility will expand the company’s presence in North Carolina to five facilities across three sites.

“Last year we committed to adding seven new facilities in the US, and today we finalize our plans to expand our US manufacturing and R&D footprint in the US,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, in a April 30, 2026, statement. “By building a connected, end-to-end footprint, we are strengthening our ability to locally develop, produce, and deliver medicines at scale, enabling timely access to innovation for patients in the US.”

Its US manufacturing strategy reflects a commitment made by the company to manufacture all key Novartis medicines for US patients in the US. Key milestones are outlined below.

February 2026: Broke ground on a new biomedical research center in San Diego, California, expanding its US research presence alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, by supporting discovery across disease areas, including neuroscience and oncology. Once operational in 2029, the approximately 466,000-square-foot facility is expected to house about 1,000 Novartis employees and integrate with Novartis global research sites in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Basel, Switzerland,

February 2026: Announced a new manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas, to produce radioligand therapies (RTLs) for cancer patients, expanding the company’s RTL manufacturing network to five facilities in the US. Construction is scheduled to begin this year (2026), with the site expected to become fully operational in 2028.

January 2026: Announced a new RLT manufacturing facility for cancer treatments in Winter Park, Florida, its first in the Southeastern US. The 35,000-square-foot facility is slated to come online by 2029.

December 2025: Broke ground on a flagship manufacturing hub in North Carolina, to add solid dosage (tablets and capsules) and biologics production and packaging for treatments across oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. Anticipated to open in 2027–2028, the manufacturing hub, encompassing more than 700,000 square feet between the existing campus and new facilities, includes: 

• Building a new site in Durham, North Carolina, with the construction of two new facilities dedicated to manufacturing biologics and sterile packaging; 
• Building a new site in Morrisville, North Carolina, with one facility for the production of solid dosage products (tablets and capsules), including packaging; and; 
• Expanding the scope of the company’s existing Durham, North Carolina, facility with the added capability to support sterile filling of biologics into syringes and vials.

November 2025: Opened a new RLT manufacturing facility for cancer treatments in Carlsbad, California – the first such site in the region serving the Western US, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Ongoing: Expansions of existing RLT facilities in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Millburn, New Jersey, supporting current and future demand for these cancer treatments.

Aligning with its growth strategy
Novartis says it is on track to establish end-to‑end manufacturing for all advanced technology platforms in the US, including small and large molecules, RTLs, RNA therapeutics, and cell and gene therapies. Novartis has four core therapeutic areas (cardiovascular-renal-metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology). In addition to two established technology platforms (chemistry and biotherapeutics), three emerging platforms (gene & cell therapy, RTLs and xRNA) are being prioritized for continued investment into new R&D capabilities and manufacturing. Geographically, the company says it is focused on growing in its priority geographies: the US, China, Germany and Japan.