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Dive Brief:

Switzerland-based Octapharma said it will invest $1.5 billion to establish its first U.S. biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

The 50-acre campus will expand Octapharma’s capabilities to produce medicines derived from human plasma, according to a news release. The project is expected to bring 1,500 jobs to South Carolina, making it one of the state’s largest private biomedical investments.

Operations are scheduled to begin in the mid-2030s and include an administrative campus for Octapharma’s plasma donation operations. South Carolina’s economic development council approved job development credits for the project, as well as a $65 million grant to York County for site preparation, construction and infrastructure improvement costs.

Dive Insight:

Founded in 1983, Octapharma has more than 40 manufacturing sites and offices worldwide, including production facilities across Austria, France, Germany and Sweden. It also has U.S. offices in Paramus, New Jersey and Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as more than 190 plasma donation centers throughout the country.

Octapharma said it chose South Carolina as the location for its first U.S. manufacturing facility due to its access to major logistics networks and deep-water ports, as well as top-tier technical colleges and universities to support a strong talent pipeline and workforce development.

“We expect significant future growth, driven by our existing life-saving therapies and a strong pipeline of new products,” Wolfgang Marguerre, Octapharma’s CEO and chairman said in a statement. “Our manufacturing capacity must evolve to support this ambition, and our U.S. manufacturing facility will be an important milestone.”

The plant is slated to be located at Rock Hill’s Palmetto Research Park, a 200-plus acre technology and life sciences hub. Novant Health, a nonprofit healthcare network, plans to develop a 25-acre medical campus there as well.

An Octapharma spokesperson declined to comment on the potential production capacity of the facility, saying the project was still in the planning stages. Octapharma will have a better idea of the plant’s capabilities once construction begins and it starts procuring equipment, the spokesperson said in an email.

The move comes as international biomedical and pharmaceutical companies expand their operations in the U.S., driven by trade pressures and onshoring efforts to be closer to the nation’s healthcare market.