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Anglo-Swedish drugmaker announces $50 billion U.S.

expansion

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Plans include new Virginia plant, expansions in Maryland,

Texas,

Massachusetts

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Virginia site to receive largest single capital outlay in

company's 26-year history

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Investment to add tens of thousands of new jobs

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U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick praises drugmaker's move

By Maggie Fick and Ahmed Aboulenein

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca ( AZN )

plans to spend $50 billion to expand manufacturing and research

capabilities in the U.S. by 2030, it said on Monday, the latest

big investment by a pharmaceutical company reacting to President

Donald Trump's tariff policy.

The investment will fund a new drug manufacturing facility

in Virginia and expand research and development (R&D) and cell

therapy manufacturing in Maryland, Massachusetts, California,

Indiana and Texas, it said in a statement.

It will also upgrade the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker's U.S.

clinical trial supply network and support ongoing investment in

novel medicines.

On Monday, AstraZeneca ( AZN ) said the expansion supports its

ambition to reach $80 billion in annual revenue by 2030, with

half coming from the U.S.

The U.S. accounted for more than 40% of AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) annual

revenue in 2024, and the company had been prioritising the

market - the world's largest, worth $635 billion - before

Trump's return to office.

The move to scale up its U.S. footprint is the latest by a

drugmaker as Trump threatens to impose import tariffs on the

industry and seeks to boost domestic manufacturing. The sector

has historically been spared from trade disputes.

Trump has called on pharma companies to make more of the

medicines they sell in the U.S. within the country, rather than

importing active ingredients or finished medicines.

CEO Pascal Soriot announced the plans in Washington.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's department is

leading a probe into pharmaceutical imports that could pave the

way for new tariffs.

"For decades Americans have been reliant on foreign supply

of key pharmaceutical products. President Trump and our nation's

new tariff policies are focused on ending this structural

weakness," said Lutnick in a statement issued by AstraZeneca ( AZN ).

While Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs on the sector, he

signalled earlier this month that companies would be given a

year to 18 months to "get their act together" before any levies

take effect.

The company said that the timing and location of the

announcement was linked to the U.S. policy environment, though

some of the spending would have occurred regardless so that the

infrastructure for future medicines was in place.

The pledge is in addition to the $3.5 billion in investments the

company announced in November 2024, the statement said.

PLEDGES

The $50 billion pledge matches the commitment announced by Swiss

rival Roche in April and exceeds new spending plans

unveiled this year by Eli Lilly ( LLY ) & Co, Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ )

, Novartis, and Sanofi.

Also present at the announcement was Virginia State Governor

Glenn Youngkin, a vocal Trump ally who has defended the

administration's tariff policies.

The new Virginia facility - the company's largest single

manufacturing investment - will produce active ingredients for

AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) experimental weight-loss medicines, including its

oral GLP-1 candidate and an oral PCSK9 inhibitor for cholesterol

management, it said.

The company said the investment could create tens of thousands

of new jobs, but declined to give specifics. It employs about

18,000 people in the U.S. and has a global workforce of about

90,000.

The effort to strengthen its U.S. ties comes after years of

criticism of the UK business investment climate.

In January it scrapped plans to invest 450 million pounds

($607.1 million) in its vaccine manufacturing plant in northern

England, citing a cut in government support.

Earlier this month, The Times reported the company was

considering moving its stock market listing from London, where

it is the exchange's most valuable company worth 159 billion

pounds, to the U.S. The company declined to comment.

The company rejoined the leading U.S. drug lobby group earlier

this year, roughly two years after leaving it.

($1 = 0.7415 pounds)