Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has chosen Pennsylvania as home to its new $1bn cell therapy manufacturing facility, as the Trump administration looks to onshore drug production to the US amid growing global competition.
Once operational, the Montgomery County-based, next-generation production site will create more than 500 skilled biomanufacturing roles. The facility’s development will also open up 4,000 construction positions. The Pennsylvania facility will be J&J’s eleventh site within the state, which is already home to manufacturing, distribution, research and office-based sites.
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While J&J did not share further details on the construction timeline for the site or what it will be built to produce, the company currently has one cell therapy, Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), on the market, which became a blockbuster seller for J&J in FY2025 after bringing in $1.9bn in global sales. GlobalData, parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology, currently forecasts that Carvykti will generate sales of $7.8bn in 2031.
The Pennsylvania-based facility is one of four US expansion initiatives J&J has announced in recent months – all of which fall under its $55bn initiative to expand its manufacturing presence on home soil. Under this scheme, the company has begun construction on a $2bn biologics production facility in Wilson, North Carolina.
Around the time J&J agreed to a Most Favored Nation (MFN) deal with the White House to avoid 100% tariffs on its branded imports, the company also noted that it would construct a drug product manufacturing site in North Carolina – though no further details on this build were shared.
J&J’s moves to onshore its manufacturing to the US follow a wider trend observed across the pharma industry, as companies look to align their activities with the Trump administration’s goals. As US pharma manufacturing efforts continue, industry experts note that newer biotech hubs like North Carolina and Virginia will gain prevalence.
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By GlobalDataCell and gene therapies polarise pharma
While some companies like J&J double down on their cell therapy operations, this approach is not unanimous across pharma and biotech.
For example, Takeda chose to step away from cell therapy to focus its attention on small molecules, biologics and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) back in October 2025. In the same month, Novo Nordisk and Galapagos also shuttered their units focused on the modality.
Meanwhile, companies like Eli Lilly are leaning into the modality, as the pharma giant has already signed two blockbuster deals involving this drug class in 2026 – including a $1.1bn gene therapy-focused deal with Seamless Therapeutics and an in vivo CAR-T deal worth up to $2.4bn with Orna Therapeutics.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), which already has two approved CAR-T therapies on the market, has also placed further emphasis on the modality through its $1.5bn buyout of Orbital Therapeutics.
According to a GlobalData report, the cell and gene therapy (CGT) funding landscape is undergoing a shift as investors become increasingly selective with their capital allocation. This is evidenced by the fact that 50% of CGT venture capital activity is focused at the Series B-stage, where companies usually shift to clinical execution.
Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Pharmaceutical Technology is supported by Cytiva.
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