Roche Eyes $550M Indianapolis Expansion
The new manufacturing facility is expected to become operational by 2030.
Swiss health-care giant Roche has unveiled plans to invest as much as $550 million to expand its Diagnostics campus in Indianapolis by 2030. The site is to become a hub for the manufacture of continuous glucose monitoring systems.
In April, Roche said it would invest roughly $50 billion at 24 sites in eight U.S. states and the latest announcement is part of that initiative. The company has a substantial U.S. presence as it is, with more than 25,000 employees at 15 R&D centers and 13 manufacturing sites nationwide.
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In announcing the Indianapolis expansion, Roche didn’t specify the square footage associated with the project, or the developer or contractor who will be tasked to bring it to fruition. The company will receive incentives to the tune of about $60 million, especially in the form of tax breaks, to develop the facility. The city of Indianapolis is kicking in a 10-year property tax abatement worth about $40 million, while another $20 million will come from tax credits offered by the state of Indiana.
The investment comes at a time of reshoring manufacturing to the U.S., in response to the supply-chain shocks of the pandemic, and policies of both the Biden and Trump administrations. It is also a time when the demand for diabetes testing is enormous, considering that an estimated 38 million Americans suffer from the condition, and testing is often an important part of managing it.
Roche’s Indianapolis campus
Indianapolis is the North American headquarters for Roche Diagnostics. The division focuses on medical tests and other tools that provide information to healthcare professionals as they provide treatment for patients.
The company’s 172-acre campus at 9115 Hague Road houses such operations as U.S. research and development, laboratories, manufacturing, distribution, IT and administrative functions. Roche Diagnostics currently produces about 5.2 billion Accu-Chek diabetes test strips annually at the campus, which also serves as one of two global distribution hubs focused on serving the U.S. market and supporting distribution to other countries.
Indy among emerging life science markets
Indianapolis counts as an emerging life science market, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report, which includes pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing. Currently more than 15 million square feet of life science space exists, is under construction or is planned in Indianapolis, a total that dwarfs such other emerging U.S. markets such as Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin.
Investors are keen to bet on the Indianapolis life science sector as well, with more than $302 million in combined public and private funding put into the sector in 2024, the report shows, citing Pitchbook data. Only Austin, at about $344 million, attracted more.
Indianapolis has also seen reasonably strong employment growth in the sector, up 26 percent over the last 10 years. In terms of percentage growth, that is behind such markets as Houston and Austin, but ahead of DFW and Salt Lake City.
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