Bayer Bets on America: $2.2 Billion Ohio Campus Anchors a Doubling of US Pharma Sales

Bayer is rewiring its pharmaceutical business around the world's most lucrative medicine market, pairing a long-range American manufacturing build-out with a sweeping internal retrenchment. The stock changed hands at EUR 45.00 on the day in question, leaving investors to weigh an ambitious growth blueprint against a stubborn wall of legal and earnings uncertainty.

From a Fifth to More Than a Third

The United States accounted for 20 percent of Bayer's global pharma revenue in 2018. That share has since climbed to 35 percent, and management is targeting a doubling of the US pharma business by the end of the decade. Kerendia, a treatment for chronic kidney disease, and the cancer drug Nubeqa sit at the center of that push, with the investigational stroke-prevention candidate Asundexian waiting in the wings.

The commercial logic is hard to miss: US drug prices run as much as nearly three times higher than those in other industrialized nations, offering fat margin potential. The same pricing power, however, invites political heat — President Donald Trump has been pressing for meaningful cuts to medicine costs.

A Campus Built in Two Stages

Bayer's answer to both tariff exposure and supply-chain risk is taking shape on a 200-acre site in New Albany, Ohio. The modular pharma campus carries a price tag of 2.2 billion US dollars and will combine active ingredient manufacturing with finished-drug processing, focused on cancer, cardiovascular and kidney therapies.

The build-out unfolds in two distinct phases. A first module for active pharmaceutical ingredients is slated to come online in 2031, with a finished-dosage unit following in 2034. Construction itself is expected to support roughly 1,500 building jobs, while full operation would create about 600 permanent positions, according to CEO Bill Anderson.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called the project the state's largest-ever international health-care investment and framed it as a record German commitment to the region. Anderson, for his part, described the United States as a pivotal location for both manufacturing and innovation. Trump, meanwhile, attributed investment decisions of this magnitude to his own trade policy — a reminder that building locally has become a strategic hedge against potential import tariffs across the pharmaceutical industry.

The Ohio project follows a cell-therapy facility that Bayer opened in Berkeley in 2023. Over the five years preceding the New Albany plan, the company channeled more than 7 billion US dollars into US pharmaceutical research, development and production, according to DPA.

Shrinking Headcount, Expanding Footprint

The growth story runs alongside a stark contraction. Bayer employed just over 101,000 full-time staff worldwide at the end of 2022. Three years later, that figure had fallen to roughly 88,000 — a reminder that the pivot toward America comes with a leaner overall organization.

Wall Street Wants Proof, Not Promises

For all the strategic ambition, the market's mood remains guarded. Lingering litigation risk continues to weigh on sentiment, and the shares came under selling pressure after a key support level gave way. DER AKTIONÄR currently advises against buying in.

JPMorgan analysts struck a cautious tone on the business outlook ahead of the upcoming quarterly report, underscoring how near-term earnings concerns are overshadowing the long-range investment case.

The stock finished Friday's session at EUR 45.02. It has gained 22 percent since the start of the year, yet trades only marginally above its 200-day moving average of EUR 43.09 — and below its 50-day average of EUR 48.55.

That split screen captures Bayer's dilemma neatly: heavy upfront spending on global infrastructure, met by a market that wants tangible evidence of operating strength before it commits.