Novartis announced plans to build its fourth US radioligand therapy (RLT) manufacturing facility in Winter Park, Florida. The built-for-purpose, state-of-the-art facility represents another milestone in the company's USD 23 billion US investment announced in April 2025, further expanding manufacturing capabilities to meet growing demand for these cutting-edge cancer treatments. Novartis is scaling US manufacturing to bring innovative medicines closer to patients, so treatments are researched, made and delivered with greater speed, reliability and access in the communities where people live.

The new 35,000-square-foot facility in Winter Park, Florida, will come online by 2029 and will strengthen specialised supply chain and manufacturing capabilities across its network of RLT production facilities. The new facility will optimise the delivery of RLT medicines to patients in the southeast US and help maintain the company’s steady rate of >99 percent of doses administered on the planned day as the potential for this promising treatment modality continues to expand.

“Building this new facility in Florida marks an important step in fulfilling the promise of RLT for patients. Radioligand therapy has fundamentally changed how we approach certain cancers, and our growing US manufacturing network ensures we can continue to deliver these critical medicines with speed and reliability to patients who need them,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis.

RLT is a type of precision treatment that pairs a tumour-targeting molecule (ligand) with a therapeutic radioisotope, allowing radiation to be delivered directly to the tumour while minimising harm to surrounding healthy tissue. Each RLT dose is individually prepared, and its delivery is highly time-sensitive. Proximity to treatment facilities and transportation hubs is critical to ensure patients receive their therapy promptly and at the right location. RLT has the potential to transform oncology treatment and bring new options to people living with cancer.

Florida has steadily invested in higher education for life sciences and technology, helping to build the next generation of leaders critical to driving forward advanced manufacturing for platforms like RLT. With a growing skilled workforce and a regulatory and policy environment that values pharmaceutical innovation, Florida is well positioned to become a leader in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

“Thanks to deliberate, focused, intensified investments and world-class health innovation partnerships, we have led Florida to become a national and world-recognised leader for breakthroughs in cancer treatment, neurological innovations and more. Novartis’s investment in manufacturing cancer medicines here in Florida—where we’re already #2 nationally in both manufacturing for medicine and medical device technology—is an incredible opportunity to welcome world-class innovators to our incredibly collaborative and impactful life sciences community,” said J Alex Kelly, Secretary of Commerce, Florida.

Over the next five years, Novartis will solidify its robust US RLT manufacturing network. The new Florida site is the fourth of five existing or planned facilities. The company is currently investing in expansions of its RLT facilities in Indiana and New Jersey. In November, Novartis announced completion of a new RLT facility in California, and it plans to build a fifth location in the US.