From Globalization to Geoeconomics: U.S. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing in a New Reality

For decades, U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing operated within a globally optimized system built on scale, cost efficiency, technical capability, and regulatory alignment across major international markets. That system is now under sustained pressure. Trade policy shifts, reshoring incentives, geopolitical tension, supply chain vulnerability, and shifting capital priorities are prompting leaders to reassess where and how manufacturing investments serving the U.S. market are made. Experience across established and emerging manufacturing hubs has demonstrated that site decisions are never purely about cost. They reflect broader economic ecosystems that determine access to talent, infrastructure, regulatory predictability, and long-term competitiveness. This keynote will examine how global forces are reshaping manufacturing strategy for companies operating in or supplying the United States, distinguishing short-term political cycles from more durable structural change. It will provide context for the panel discussion that follows by linking these forces to the investment, technology, procurement, and market decisions shaping the future of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.