Novartis pharmaceuticals will expand in NC with Morrisville facility

Drugmaker Novartis said Thursday that it plans to add a building to its Morrisville campus, part of a broader plan to boost U.S. production of finished medicines. 

The 56,200-square-foot facility is expected to expand the company’s presence in North Carolina to five facilities across three sites. 

It’s the latest expansion for the company, whose footprint encompasses facilities in Durham and Wake Counties. 

The company in November announced a $771 million plan to expand its pharmaceutical manufacturing operations in Durham and Wake counties and create 700 new jobs by the end of 2030. That expansion, which combines new construction with the renovation of existing facilities across three sites, is expected to nearly double Novartis’ operational footprint to more than 700,000 square feet, making North Carolina central to the company’s biomanufacturing strategy. 

The facility announced Thursday would be additional investment — beyond the plans announced in November, a company spokesperson said. The project announced Thursday is intended to focus on end‑to‑end production of drugs, from active ingredients through finished medicines.

The November expansion announcement was for a project that would support the production of advanced biologics, filling and packaging capabilities, as well as small molecule medicines. 

“Today we finalize our plans to expand our US manufacturing and R&D footprint in the U.S.,” Vas Narasimhan, Novartis’ chief executive, said in a statement. "By building a connected, end-to-end footprint, we are strengthening our ability to locally develop, produce and deliver medicines at scale, enabling timely access to innovation for patients in the U.S.”

Recent Novartis development milestones: 

• February 2026: Broke ground on a new biomedical research center in San Diego, California, expanding its U.S. research presence alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• February 2026: Announced a new manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas, to produce treatments for cancer patients.
• January 2026: Announced a new manufacturing facility for cancer treatments in Winter Park, Florida.
• December 2025: Broke ground manufacturing hub in North Carolina, adding solid dosage tablet and capsule and biologics production and packaging for treatments across oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. 
• November 2025: Opened a new manufacturing facility for cancer treatments in Carlsbad, California.
• Ongoing: Expansions of existing facilities in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Millburn, New Jersey, supporting current and future demand for cancer treatments.