CNBC's Angelica Peebles joins 'Squawk Box' with a look at Fujifilm's new drug manufacturing plant in North Carolina.

North Carolina

Fujifilm has finished construction on a $3 billion drug manufacturing plant in North Carolina, which is set to become one of the largest biologics facilities in the United States. The plant features advanced bioreactors capable of producing monoclonal antibodies, a critical component in modern pharmaceuticals. Historically, the U.S. has lagged behind Europe in biologics production, but recent investments and policy changes, including lower corporate tax rates, have encouraged more domestic manufacturing. Johnson & Johnson is among the first companies to utilize the new facility, reflecting a broader trend of increased investment in U.S. biopharmaceutical infrastructure. The project took five years to complete, and industry leaders expect continued growth in this sector.

Inside Fujifilm's $3 billion drug plant

Five years three billion dollars later a new drug manufacturing plan is about to open in North Carolina And it may have come at a most opportune time that this year's best state to do business Yeah, that was a week ago I think it was Angelica people people's joins us now With more good. Good morning. It was the week of July. Hey, Joe The it is North Carolina that was our top state and this has been a big boom for u.s. Manufacturing so these tanks are ready for the fall opening of Fujifilm Biotechnologies is new factory and it will be one of the largest bio biologics manufacturing facilities in the u.s So you're looking at what's called a bioreactor each one of these spans three floors and it can hold 20,000 liters they're used to grow the cells that will produce monoclonal antibodies and as you can probably tell Precision here is extremely important so opening one valve at the wrong time and letting in just one molecule can cost you the entire batch and Historically the u.s. Hasn't been a large producer of biologics almost half of branded injectable drugs originate in Europe Versus just 17% in the u.s And that's why it's today's announcement that pharmaceuticals from the EU will only face a 15% tariff Not those higher rates that President Trump has floated is important for the industry But things are starting to change especially in places here like, North Carolina So Johnson & Johnson is one of the first companies that will use this space and one of the many Announcing new investments across the country J&J CFO Joe Wolfe credits a lower corporate tax rate for encouraging more u.s. Manufacturing If you think about the tax policy that's now in place of the United States at a 21% Tax rate that puts us right in the middle of the pack so we can tap into not only the Infrastructure that exists in the u.s. One that's quite frankly emerged since the 2017 Tax Act passage where we used to have about a 1,100 facilities For the manufactured biopharmaceuticals today. We've got 1600 But Joe it's gonna take time to see the results of those investments It's taken five years to take this site from an idea to reality and getting it ready to start actually making medicines And that's pretty fast so much more to come in this space guys

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