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Roche has pledged to build a giant weight-loss drug factory in the US.
The plans form part of a $50bn (£37bn) pledge aimed at heading off Donald Trump’s threats to hit foreign pharmaceuticals with tariffs.
The Swiss giant on Tuesday said the 900,000 sq ft manufacturing facility – roughly the size of 12 football pitches – would be developed in America, the precise location of which is yet to be disclosed.
It also announced an expansion of existing factories and research hubs in Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, Oregon and California, as well as new factories in Pennsylvania and Indiana.
Following the investments, Roche said it would export more medicines from the US than it imported.
The company expects the commitment to lead to the creation of more than 12,000 American jobs, including 1,000 at Roche. Most would be in the supply chain.
The move is the latest pledge by a major pharmaceutical company to locate more manufacturing capacity in the US, amid threats from Mr Trump to hit imports with crippling tariffs.
Since the Republican leader returned to power in January, Swiss company Novartis has similarly pledged $23bn of investment, while domestic drug makers Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson have also pledged $27bn and $55bn respectively.
Thomas Schinecker, the chief executive of Basel-based Roche, said: “Roche is a Swiss company with a strong heritage in more than 130 countries globally.
“Today’s announced investments underscore our long-standing commitment to research, development and manufacturing in the US.
“We are proud of our 110-year legacy in the United States which has been a key driver for jobs, innovation and the creation of intellectual property in the US, across both our pharmaceutical and diagnostics divisions.
“Our investments of $50bn over the next five years will lay the foundation for our next era of innovation and growth, benefitting patients in the US and around the world.”
North America remains by far the largest pharmaceutical market, generating 53.3pc of global sales, according to the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.
Europe was the next largest with 22.7pc, followed by China with 7.5pc.
But Mr Trump has taken aim at the industry’s imports into the US, arguing that they should be doing a greater share of manufacturing domestically.
“We don’t make our own drugs, our own pharmaceuticals – we don’t make our own drugs any more,” he said last week.
“The drug companies are in Ireland, in lots of other places [like] China. And all I have to do is impose a tariff. The more, the faster they move here.”