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

Johnson & Johnson announced on February 18, 2025, plans to invest more than $1 billion in a next-generation cell therapy manufacturing facility in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The facility will support the company's pipeline of advanced medicines targeting cancer, immune-mediated and neurological diseases, and is expected to serve thousands of patients annually while helping reduce costs and speed up delivery timelines for personalized therapies.

The Lower Gwynedd site is designed to incorporate advanced cell therapy technologies intended to improve the delivery of personalized treatments to patients across the U.S. The facility will be located at 1201 Sumneytown Pike in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, part of Lower Gwynedd Township, within 8 miles of Interstate 276 and about 23 miles from Center City, Philadelphia.

The company says the project will generate substantial employment during both construction and operations. More than 4,000 construction roles are expected to be supported during development, with more than 500 skilled biomanufacturing jobs planned once the facility becomes fully operational. Construction is expected to be completed in 2031.

The CEO stated in a company statement: "For 140 years, Johnson & Johnson has been a leading innovator in American healthcare, and we are honoured to continue advancing that legacy in Pennsylvania."

This investment forms part of J&J's previously disclosed commitment to spend $55 billion across the U.S. on manufacturing, research and development and technology by early 2029. The Pennsylvania-based facility is one of four U.S. expansion initiatives J&J has announced in recent months. Under this scheme, the company has begun construction on a $2 billion 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.

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 $1.9 billion in global sales. Forecasts project that Carvykti will generate sales of $7.8 billion in 2031.

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. J&J says the project builds on a long history of operations in Pennsylvania, where it estimates its annual economic impact at approximately $10 billion. The company currently operates 10 sites across the state covering more than 2 million square feet of manufacturing, research, distribution and office space.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro welcomed the announcement, describing the Commonwealth as an increasingly competitive location for life sciences investment. He said the state has strengthened its position: "That's why companies like Johnson & Johnson are choosing to double down on their investments here in our Commonwealth - because they know we've got the strategy, the workforce and the speed they need to succeed."

J&J is the latest pharmaceutical firm to increase its U.S. manufacturing capabilities, following uncertainty due to trade and tariff policy, and is one of several announced to take shape in Pennsylvania. In January, Eli Lilly said it would be investing more than $3.5 billion in a manufacturing facility in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania, which will produce injectable medicines and devices. Construction of that facility is expected to begin this year and will also complete by 2031. In September 2025, Eli Lilly said it would develop a $5 billion manufacturing plant in Richmond, Virginia. The same month, GSK announced it would commit $1.2 billion to support its U.S. advanced production facilities and digital technologies, including the construction of a new plant in Upper Merion, Pennsylvania, which will produce medicine for respiratory diseases and cancer.

J&J's moves to onshore its manufacturing to the U.S. follow a wider trend observed across the pharma industry, as companies look to align their activities with the Trump administration's goals. In 2024, just 15% of the active ingredients used in branded drugs sold in the U.S. were manufactured domestically, while 43% were sourced from the EU.

While some companies like J&J double down on their cell therapy operations, this approach is not unanimous across pharma and biotech. 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 $1.1 billion gene therapy-focused deal with Seamless Therapeutics and an in vivo CAR-T deal worth up to $2.4 billion with Orna Therapeutics.