Talk of pharma industry onshoring is reaching a fever pitch, with tariffs on foreign pharmaceuticals coming “very shortly,” Big Pharma companies pumping billions into U.S. manufacturing, and Eli Lilly and Merck & Co. partnering with Purdue University to launch an R&D manufacturing consortium to help boost U.S. production.

At the heart of the action is the Raleigh, North Carolina region, which is poised to be part of the incoming boom in manufacturing investments.

Merck said on Tuesday it has opened a $1-billion facility at its North Carolina site, as the drugmaker seeks to boost its U.S. manufacturing in the face of President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

Amid a flurry of manufacturing activity in the state this year, Amgen is the latest drugmaker to bolster its production footprint in North Carolina.

Amgen is laying out $1 billion to build a second drug substance facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, the company said Thursday morning.

As Baxter International's manufacturing site in Marion, N.C., recovers from Hurricane Helene-related flooding, the drugmaker said Oct. 24 it expects intravenous product from the facility to enter the distribution channel in mid- to late November. 

Pfizer has told 75 employees in Sanford, North Carolina, that their positions have been eliminated.

The layoffs come three months after the company axed 150 positions in Sanford following a high-profile phase 3 trial failure for its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy candidate. The company said that the new wave of layoffs are related to the DMD trial results.

Hospitals are starting to run short of critical IV fluids and devising workarounds after a North Carolina manufacturing plant that furnished more than half of the domestic supply was taken down by Hurricane Helene.

The already fragile medical supply chain is facing more stress this week, after Hurricane Helene ravaged a huge Baxter International plant in North Carolina that makes IV fluids for many U.S. hospitals.

People on Medicaid in North Carolina will soon be able to have obesity management medications covered.

The state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that effective Aug. 1, NC Medicaid will add coverage of FDA-approved obesity management medications for beneficiaries 12 and older.

Kyowa Kirin Inc.’s board of directors has approved plans to invest up to $530 million to build a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Sanford, North Carolina.

The 171,700-square-foot, two-reactor facility will accelerate the company’s development and production of biologic therapies for patients with rare and serious diseases.

Fujifilm is investing $1.2 billion more to soup up its end-to-end biomanufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, bringing the total investment in the plant to more than $3.2 billion, the company said in a release.