Bayer plans $2.2bn Ohio pharma campus, adding around 600 jobs
The German group’s planned New Albany campus will expand production for its largest pharmaceuticals market, with the first manufacturing module expected to open in 2031.
Bayer plans to invest $2.2 billion in a new pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in New Albany, Ohio, expanding production capacity in what it describes as its largest and fastest-growing pharmaceuticals market. Announced on October 2, 2026, the project is expected to create around 600 jobs, alongside roughly 1,500 construction jobs.
The German group will build the facility in the New Albany International Business Park to supply patients in the United States and abroad. The investment adds to more than $7 billion Bayer says it spent on US pharmaceutical research and development and manufacturing over the preceding five years.
The project deepens an established American presence rather than marking a market entry. Its significance lies in the scale and duration of the commitment: Bayer is adding manufacturing capacity for its growing medicines portfolio, with two production modules scheduled to come online in 2031 and 2034.
A phased expansion of drug production
The flexible, modular campus is designed to combine drug substance and drug product manufacturing, using advanced digital and automation technologies. Bayer says it will initially support its oncology, cardiovascular and renal care portfolio. The first module, dedicated to drug substance manufacturing, is expected to become operational in 2031; a second, for drug product manufacturing, is planned to follow in 2034.
Those dates make the investment a long-term capacity expansion, rather than an immediate addition to supply. Bayer has not specified the individual medicines to be produced, manufacturing volumes or how the $2.2 billion will be divided between the two modules.
“Bayer has long seen the United States as a key manufacturing base and innovation hub,” chief executive Bill Anderson said in the company’s announcement. He said the new site would strengthen Bayer’s ability to deliver medicines to patients both in the US and abroad.
Building on an existing US network
The Ohio campus will complement Bayer’s US pharmaceuticals headquarters in Whippany, New Jersey, and existing sites in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Berkeley and San Diego, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The announcement positions Ohio as an addition to that network, not a replacement for an existing facility.
Sebastian Guth, global chief operating officer of Bayer Pharmaceuticals and president of Bayer US, described the expansion as a step towards meeting demand in the company’s fastest-growing pharmaceuticals market. Bayer’s head of pharmaceutical product supply, Holger Weintritt, said the planned site would improve the resilience and reliability of its global supply network while the group continued investing in existing manufacturing sites elsewhere.
For Bayer, the strategy therefore extends beyond serving American demand. The campus is intended to support global supply as well, giving the US investment a role in the company’s wider manufacturing operations.
Ohio’s workforce proposition
JobsOhio, the state’s economic development organisation, said workforce readiness was central to Ohio’s appeal. Bayer will draw on the Ohio Life Science Training Center, which is under construction and scheduled to open in summer 2027, to train biomanufacturing operators and technicians.
JobsOhio is investing up to $30 million in the centre, alongside nearly $8 million from the City of New Albany, the State of Ohio and The New Albany Company. That funding supports the shared training facility; it is not identified as a direct subsidy for Bayer’s campus.
Bayer will join a business-park life sciences cluster that includes Amgen, Hims & Hers, American Regent and Pharmavite, according to JobsOhio. Bayer also plans to connect the new site with academic innovation and manufacturing expertise through a US-based collaboration network, although its announcement does not name partners.
The training infrastructure provides a practical link between the investment announcement and the workforce Bayer expects to need. With production still years away, the next phase will centre on building the campus and preparing the skilled staff required to operate it.
