Bayer will build a $2.2 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in central Ohio

Bayer is building a $2.2 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in New Albany, Ohio, the company has announced.

This will create 1,500 construction jobs and 600 highly-skilled permanent jobs “focused on developing the compounds that make Bayer’s medicines work,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said. 

“This is an historic win for Ohio,” DeWine said. “It is by far Ohio’s largest international healthcare project and the largest German direct investment in Ohio history.”

Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said this will “impact multiple generations.”

“The new site will be home to manufacturing expertise and a skilled workforce that will strengthen our ability to deliver innovative, high-quality medicines to patients both in the United States and abroad,” Anderson said. 

Anderson wouldn’t say what other cities were finalists for the plant. 

“We saw some really great sites, but the combination of the workforce, the proximity to important healthcare institutions, and research institutions, and frankly the attitude of everyone we worked with from JobsOhio, the state leaders, the federal leaders, it made a difference.” 

Anderson said he expects the new plant will mostly hire people from Ohio. 

“If we wanted people from someplace else, we would have gone there,” he said. 

The Ohio Life Science Training Center in New Albany, a $30 million building expected to open next year, will be used to prepare people for careers in pharmaceutical biomanufacturing and Bayer will build a production facility five miles away in New Albany. 

“In just a year, newly certified Ohioans will walk out of this training center, drive a few miles down the road, and go to work making the ingredients for medicines that will improve lives all over the world,” DeWine said. 

Bayer’s new plant will be close to Ohio’s seven major research universities. 

“We’re excited for Ohio State researchers to work alongside Bayer teams toward our shared goals, and we’re especially proud of the integral role that our university and Ohio higher education partners play in securing economic wins like this for our state, Ohio State University President Ravi Bellamkonda said in a statement.

The plant’s groundbreaking is expected next year and manufacturing is expected to start in 2031. A second module for drug product manufacturing is scheduled to follow in 2034.

Bayer, a German pharmaceutical company, has treated 4.5 million people in the United States with their prescription medicines in the last three years, Anderson said. 

“After a competitive global review, we’re happy to expand our production footprint here,” Anderson said. “We see a tremendous chance to build the biopharma ecosystem here and partner with your research institutions. What’s next in medicine will go through you, New Albany, Ohio.” 

Bayer’s U.S. pharmaceuticals headquarters is in Whippany, New Jersey and has other U.S. sites in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Berkeley, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and San Diego, California. 

New Albany is home to other new biotech companies including drug manufacturer Amgen, telehealth company Hims & Hers and vitamin maker Pharmavite. 

“We’ve created an environment where businesses grow, where people can find meaningful careers, and where economic development strengthens the community and the region for generations to come,” said New Albany Mayor Sloan Spalding. 

The massive Intel chip plant near New Albany is years behind schedule. Factories were supposed to start production last year, but production has been pushed back to at least 2030.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.