Last week, pharmaceutical giant Merck broke ground on a new $3 billion facility in Virginia that will create 8,000 construction jobs and 500 permanent manufacturing jobs.
The new 400,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art plant isn’t merely the latest addition to Virginia’s rapidly growing biotech industry footprint. It’s a sign that America is making quick progress towards President Trump’s goal of not merely leading the world in inventing new drugs, but also in manufacturing them. Beginning in 2025, Merck alone has committed to invest more than $70 billion in U.S. research, development and capital projects through 2029, and since the start of this year, biotech firms have announced a staggering $425 billion of domestic research and manufacturing investments — a ten-fold increase in announced investments compared to 2024.
These sorts of investments are possible thanks to supportive government policies, like President Trump’s tax reform. Our leaders, in both Richmond and Washington, would be wise to continue policies — from reforming the tax code to streamlining the drug approval process — that make it easier for biotech companies to invent and manufacture medicines here.
It’s no secret why biotech firms of all sizes are choosing to research and manufacture their products in the commonwealth.
Virginia offers one of the nation’s most comprehensive incentive packages to attract biotech research and manufacturing. Companies can qualify for refundable R&D tax credits and performance-based grants. On top of that, our state boasts a highly skilled and educated workforce, top-tier universities, and the third-largest port on the East Coast — all of which makes it easier to hire talented workers and export products.
Incentives and advantages like these help explain why the biotech industry now employs over 30,000 Virginians across more than 3,400 businesses. And those figures are poised to rise in the years ahead. In addition to Merck breaking ground on the new factory — which will start producing both finished medicines as well as precursor “active pharmaceutical ingredients” in 2029 — AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly also recently announced new multi-billion-dollar manufacturing plants here. And all of this is in addition to the growing cluster in Petersburg, where companies like Phlow, Civica Rx and Novo Nordisk have helped build the backbone of Virginia’s advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem.
Of course, Richmond officials aren’t the only ones helping drive this expansion. Across the Potomac, leaders in both parties have crafted policies that help America dominate the global biotech industry.
The bipartisan Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, for instance, gave universities the right to patent discoveries they made with federal funding and then license the initial lab breakthroughs to private-sector firms that could turn them into tested, FDA-approved lifesaving medicines.
More recently, lawmakers passed bipartisan reforms such as the 21st Century Cures Act, which streamlined the approval process for new medicines so companies could bring them to patients sooner.
And in 2017, President Trump and Congress passed a major tax reform — which was just made permanent this summer through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — that incentivized multinational companies to bring back cash from overseas and invest it here in America.
As long as our leaders continue promoting pro-innovation policies, workers here in Virginia and across the nation will continue to reap the benefits. Nationwide, the biotech industry supports roughly 10 million jobs and generates nearly 7% of private-sector GDP.
Biotech is also a pillar of our national security. With global rivals like China seeking to displace us as the primary global biotech leader, it’s more important than ever for America to excel in developing and manufacturing its own medicines so that we’re not dependent on other countries for lifesaving treatments and cures.
In their announcement, Merck declared that by 2030 they will have the capability to manufacture all of their small molecule products in the U.S. The new Elkton facility represents a vote of confidence in Virginia’s workers and their elected leaders in Richmond and Washington. If Virginians want more groundbreaking ceremonies like this — and more new jobs and lifesaving innovation in the years to come — we need those policymakers to keep incentivizing research, protecting intellectual property, and encouraging investments in lasting growth.
John Newby is chief executive officer of the Virginia Biotechnology Association (VA Bio).
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