In light of President Donald Trump’s impending pharma tariffs, several big companies have made massive manufacturing investments in the U.S., including Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. BMS is the latest to make a multibillion-dollar push.
Bristol Myers Squibb will pump $40 billion into its U.S. operations over the next five years, CEO Christopher Boerner announced Monday in an opinion piece for STAT News.
The money will go toward the pharma’s R&D operations, while also beefing up its domestic manufacturing capacity. In particular, BMS will “ramp up” its investment in radiopharmaceutical production as well as artificial intelligence to “significantly increase the pace of innovation,” Boerner wrote.
With this investment, BMS joins its fellow Big Pharma companies in pouring billions upon billions of dollars into the U.S., both add R&D capacity and to bolster manufacturing—largely in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. Eli Lilly led the pack in February, unveiling a $27 billion package to construct four new manufacturing facilities over the next five years. Johnson & Johnson followed a month later with a $55 billion promise. Novartis, Roche, Regeneron and Amgen have also announced major U.S. investments.
BMS’ $40 billion commitment on Monday also comes as the pharma company is in the midst of an aggressive cost-cutting program. BMS kicked off this restructuring initiative in April 2024, laying off 2,200 employees with an eye toward lowering cash burn by $1.5 billion by the end of this year. In February, the company upped its savings goal by $2 billion through 2027.
This year alone BMS has laid off more than 800 employees, the bulk of which were just revealed this month, putting 516 jobs on the chopping block. In his opinion piece on Monday, Boerner did not clarify how many new jobs the domestic investment will create.
Boerner on Monday also alluded to certain “government policies” that “can destroy” the U.S.’ leadership in biopharma. In particular, he noted that efforts to “undermine regulatory certainty, eliminate funding for basic medical research, or weaken intellectual property” could harm and discourage innovation, in turn making it harder “to discover the next breakthroughs.”
Boerner also took a stand against the tariffs, warning that they “could lead to shortages or higher costs to patients.”
Speaking to investors during the company’s Q1 earnings call, Boerner downplayed the potential impacts of tariffs on BMS. “We are a significantly U.S.-based company today,” he said. And while there remains uncertainty regarding the effects of the tariffs on the industry, he added, “we already have a significant presence in the U.S. and have taken efforts to reduce disruptions to the supply chain.”
