BMS Chooses Houston for $2.3B Manufacturing Facility

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has selected Houston as the site for a new $2.3 billion multi-modal manufacturing campus designed to support drug product and finished goods manufacturing from late development through launch by producing multiple modalities of treatments—including small molecules, biologics, and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)—across disease areas.

The campus will rise within Generation Park, a 4,300-acre master planned mixed-use campus. BMS’ planned campus is part of the pharma giant’s previously announced commitment to invest $40 billion over five years in U.S.-based R&D, technology, and manufacturing.

“This investment reflects our confidence in America’s continued leadership in biopharmaceutical innovation,” Christopher Boerner, PhD, BMS’ board chair and CEO, said in a statement. “We’re building the domestic manufacturing capabilities needed to deliver the next generation of medicines and support future scientific breakthroughs. Houston and the state of Texas offer the talent, infrastructure, and partnership needed to help bring that vision to life.”

BMS isn’t the only pharma giant to plan a multi-billion-dollar campus at Generation Park. Eli Lilly is developing a $6.5 billion manufacturing site designed to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients for oral drugs—including Foundayo® (orforglipron), the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist obesity drug.

Lilly grew its regional footprint in April by acquiring Houston startup CrossBridge Bio, a developer of next-generation dual-payload antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), for up to $300 million.

Reshoring plans

Lilly and BMS are among U.S.-based biopharma giants that have announced plans over the past year and a half to reshore significant portions of their manufacturing operations Stateside. Companies have cited a need to meet growing demand for new treatments—and an apparent desire to avoid the 100% tariff on treatments produced outside the United States, a tariff that took effect on July 31 based on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows investigations into whether drug imports by multinational biopharmas threaten national security.

Section 232 was amended earlier this year to allow a president to impose restrictions on goods imports or enter into negotiations with trading partners if the U.S. Secretary of Commerce determines, following an investigation, that the quantity or other circumstance of those imports “threaten[s] to impair” U.S. national security.

The planned Houston campus, BMS said, will be modular in design, enabling the company to add and reconfigure manufacturing capacity as needed in order to develop its current and future pipeline. By being modular as well as multi-modal, BMS reasons, the Houston campus will be flexible enough to evolve with the needs of the company and particularly patients into the future.

BMS plans to create nearly 500 skilled jobs at the campus, which the company says will be designed to grow in scale, capability, and workforce for decades to come. The company also projected creating about 2,000 construction and other indirect jobs between 2027–2030 as the facility is built and brought online.

Decision factors

BMS, which is headquartered in Lawrenceville, NJ, said it selected Texas and Generation Park after conducting what it termed an extensive, competitive evaluation of multiple markets in the Central and Eastern United States.

Among key factors in the decision, according to the company, were the emerging strength of Greater Houston’s life sciences workforce, proximity to utilities and transportation infrastructure, an overall business climate conducive to long-term growth—and available incentives.

“Our decision to build this state-of-the-art manufacturing campus in Houston, TX, reflects our confidence in the region’s ability to support a world-class, digitally advanced supply operation,” stated Karin Shanahan, a BMS EVP and the company’s chief supply chain and operations officer.

The state of Texas has extended a $4.89 million grant from its Texas Enterprise Fund to BMS and has designated the BMS Houston facility as a “qualified project” and thus eligible for incentives to be awarded through the Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation (JETI) program.

“With lower operating costs and easy access to markets across the U.S. and the world, Texas drives affordability for consumers,” added Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who is seeking re-election to a fourth term.

The region’s largest life-sci campus is the world’s largest medical complex, the 1,345-acre, 54 million-square-foot Texas Medical Center (TMC), home to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine’s primary campus. The region is also home to six medical schools, three Tier One research universities, and specialized training programs through San Jacinto College’s NIBRT-licensed Center for Biotechnology, Lone Star College, and Texas A&M’s National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing.

Greater Houston is home to some 28,000 life sciences jobs, according to regional industry group BioHouston, and has about eight million square feet of lab space. BioHouston’s chairman Jeff Wade told GEN that the region had scooped up about a half-billion dollars in VC funding between 2025 and the first half of 2026.

“Bristol Myers Squibb’s announcement is a tremendous win for Texas and the Houston region, further reinforcing our position as a premier destination for life sciences and advanced manufacturing,” stated Steve Kean, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, a regional economic development group.