With Johnson & Johnson gradually fleshing out its $55 billion U.S. investment scheme in recent months, the New Jersey-headquartered drug and medical device giant on Monday revealed just how the plan will benefit its medtech operations, specifically in the field of vision care.
J&J is plugging more than $1 billion into its operations in Jacksonville, Florida, to boost its production and distribution firepower for the widely prescribed Acuvue line of contact lenses, the company said in a June 15 press release.
Aside from a new distribution facility, the project will also cover the installation of new manufacturing and packaging tech to grow capacity for J&J’s Acuvue lenses. The company noted in its release that it cranks out more than 1.7 billion Acuvue contact lenses each year for U.S. patients.
The company did not say whether the expansion in Florida will generate new jobs, although J&J did clarify that the outlay “supports the continued growth of its Jacksonville operations, strengthening opportunities for the 3,500 employees based in the area while reinforcing the regional economy.”
J&J has deep roots in the Sunshine State, having first set up shop in Jacksonville in 1981. These days, the company boasts more than 1.5 million square feet of manufacturing, R&D, distribution and operations facilities across Florida.
J&J was quick to point out Monday that the medtech investment in Florida is part of the broader $55 billion U.S. cash infusion it announced last March, part of a slate of domestic manufacturing and research commitments from pharma heavyweights looking to turn down the pressure from the Trump administration’s drug tariff threats last year.
Through 2029, J&J said it would build out three new manufacturing sites, while expanding others in the U.S. across its medicines and medtech networks.
In January, upon formalizing its so-called “most favored nation” deal around drug pricing, investment pledges and tariffs in the U.S., J&J fleshed out its prior investment plans, at least in part, unveiling blueprints on a new cell therapy plant in Pennsylvania and a drug product manufacturing facility in Wilson, North Carolina.
The following month, J&J clarified that it would spend more than $1 billion to build its next-generation cell therapy plant in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, which is expected to create some 500 new permanent biomanufacturing jobs in the area.
Meanwhile, in a separate domestic manufacturing move last year, J&J in August paid $2 billion to tap into capacity at Fujifilm Biotechnologies’ massive biomanufacturing campus in Holly Springs, North Carolina, with the contract slated to run over the next 10 years.