Pharma Giant Merck Starts Building $3B Manufacturing Site in Virginia

A billion-dollar tsunami of life sciences development is hitting Virginia, with multinational pharmaceutical firm Merck as the latest to join the wave. 

The New Jersey-based pharma giant has begun construction on a $3 billion, 400,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Elkton, Va., about 116 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. The development pencils out at an incredible $7,500 per square foot.

The new facility will complement Merck’s current manufacturing site in Elkton, which spans more than 1 million square feet, and is estimated to create more than 500 permanent jobs and 8,000 construction jobs. Merck has operated in Elkton for nearly 85 years, opening a facility there during World War II.

“Merck’s decision to significantly expand its Elkton operations is a testament to Virginia’s world-class workforce and business climate, and builds on recent federal and state investments to position the Commonwealth as a national leader in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) production,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement. “By bringing API manufacturing and the vast majority of its global small molecule production here, Merck is making a long-term investment in our economy while strengthening America’s pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity.”

Merck’s Elkton project, dubbed the Center of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, is part of the company’s new $70 billion U.S. expansion initiative, which currently includes other billion-dollar developments or expansions in Delaware, Kansas, New Jersey and North Carolina. Construction on the new Elkton facility is expected to finish in 2029. 

“Merck’s transformational $3 billion commitment to locate its Center of Excellence marks a giant leap forward for both America’s and Virginia’s life sciences sector,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “It deepens the company’s long-standing commitment to innovation and strengthens the Commonwealth’s position as the emerging national leader in biopharmaceutical advanced manufacturing and life sciences.”

Merck joins other global pharmaceutical companies investing in and rapidly growing their presence in Virginia. Earlier this month, AstraZeneca announced plans to expand its already $4 billion manufacturing project in Albemarle County by an additional $500 million, bringing its total investment there to $4.5 billion. Similar to Merck, AstraZeneca also plans to invest some $50 billion in future projects across the U.S.

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly and Company in September announced a $5 billion plan to develop a biomanufacturing facility in Goochland County. The plan is more than double its initial $2.15 billion investment in the project. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.