Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has chosen Texas as the site for its new $2.3bn state-of-the-art manufacturing campus.
The 600,000 sqft site at Generation Park in Houston will manufacture next-generation medicines and create nearly 500 jobs, marking a significant milestone in BMS’ $40bn plan to boost its US capabilities during the next five years.
BMS described the campus as "modular and multi-modal," which it said would allow the company the flexibility to add and reconfigure manufacturing capacity as needed — enabling it to manufacture multiple types of products spanning small molecules, biologics and antibody-drug conjugates across a range of disease areas.
"This investment reflects our confidence in America's continued leadership in biopharmaceutical innovation,” said Dr Christopher Boerner, Board Chair and CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb.
As part of our $40 billion commitment to the United States, we're building the domestic manufacturing capabilities needed to deliver the next generation of medicines and support future scientific breakthroughs.
"Houston and the state of Texas offer the talent, infrastructure and partnership needed to help bring that vision to life."
Texas has already drawn the likes of AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Clariant, thanks to what Texas Governor Greg Abbott described as "lower operating costs and easy access to markets across the US and the world" driving affordability for consumers.
“Texas is a global hub for life sciences, where today's innovations shape the future of healthcare,” he added.
This $2.3 billion investment by Bristol Myers Squibb in the dynamic biotech ecosystem in Houston is a testament to the depth of our skilled workforce and the pipeline of talent coming through our nation-leading technical colleges and research universities.
The firm also stated that Texas' "pro-business environment, commitment to economic development and growing life sciences ecosystem" had clinched it as the new manufacturing facility's home.
"Our decision to build this state-of-the-art manufacturing campus in Houston, Texas, reflects our confidence in the region’s ability to support a world-class, digitally advanced supply operation,” said Karin Shanahan, EVP, Chief Supply Chain and Operations Officer of Bristol Myers Squibb.
This facility is designed to deliver the speed, quality and reliability that patients depend on, combining flexible, modular manufacturing with advanced digital capabilities to ensure consistent supply across multiple modalities.
"It strengthens our ability to operate with resilience and positions us to reliably deliver medicines to patients today while adapting [to] future demands.”
The news comes after rumours of a merger between AstraZeneca and BMS circulated early last week, though it has since been reported that there were no discussions between the pair around a potential deal.
