Washington, Sep 1 (IANS) Nine pharmaceutical companies have committed $19.6 billion for manufacturing and other operations in the United States as President Donald Trump presses the industry to move medicine production back into the country.
The pledges accompanied agreements under which the companies will reduce medicine prices for American patients. Administration officials presented the investments as measures that would create jobs, protect pharmaceutical supplies and strengthen national security.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Trump had set three goals for the negotiations: secure the world’s lowest medicine prices for Americans, preserve biomedical innovation and bring manufacturing back to the United States.
“These companies today have agreed to $19.6 billion of construction to reshore their production in this country,” Kennedy said at the White House.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said domestic manufacturing would reduce US dependence on pharmaceutical supply chains located overseas.
“The Commerce Department is involved because we want these companies to reshore, right? Because reshoring produces national security, right?” Lutnick said.
“We need our drugs made in America, and then that brings jobs and investment in America,” he added.
Lutnick said the latest commitments took wider pharmaceutical investments secured by the administration to $638 billion.
“So, just this group, $19.6 billion today, just today, taking us to $638 billion,” he said.
Trump separately placed the industry-wide figure at $640 billion, while Kennedy cited $668 billion in agreements to move production back to the United States. The officials did not explain the differences among the figures during the event.
BeOne Medicines chief executive John Oyler announced one of the largest individual commitments presented at the event.
“We’re also investing nearly $11 billion in US research, development and manufacturing through 2029, and this is helping to strengthen America’s leadership in biopharmaceutical innovation,” Oyler said.
CSL said it employed nearly 19,000 people in 44 states and planned a $1.5 billion investment in Illinois.
“Our planned $1.5 billion investment in Illinois will help onshore our end to end production of plasma derived therapies, including immunoglobulins,” CSL’s Julie Schiffman said.
UCB chief executive Dr Jean-Christophe Tellier announced what he described as the company’s largest manufacturing investment.
“Today we are making the largest manufacturing investment that our companies have done with a $2 billion stores facility in Georgia,” Tellier said.
Kyowa Kirin’s Steve Schaefer said the company was substantially increasing the share of medicines manufactured domestically for American patients.
“Right now, 5 per cent of our drugs that are manufactured in the US are for American patients,” Schaefer said. “In the next two years, over 95 percent of drugs that are manufactured in the United States will be for American patients.”
Trump linked the investment commitments to his tariff and trade policies, saying they had encouraged companies to relocate operations.
“These deals, one of the reasons is tariffs, I hate to say,” Trump said.
The pharmaceutical industry relies on international networks for research, active ingredients, manufacturing and distribution. Recent disruptions have increased US attention to the availability of essential medicines and the country’s dependence on foreign production.
–IANS
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