Georgia biomanufacturing moves into scale-up mode
Key points:
- • UCB’s $2 billion Rowen campus gives Georgia a major new foothold in U.S. biologics manufacturing.
- • Georgia is pairing logistics and cold-chain infrastructure with the national push for more resilient pharmaceutical supply chains.
- • Workforce, lab capacity, and specialized training will help determine how much additional life sciences investment the state can capture.
November 2026 — UCB dedicated the site of its planned $2 billion biologics manufacturing campus in Gwinnett County in October, marking the largest manufacturing investment in the company’s history. The project gives Georgia biomanufacturing a major new anchor as the state works to expand its workforce, infrastructure, and commercialization ecosystem.
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The planned campus at Rowen will span 79 acres and approximately 460,000 square feet. UCB expects the project to create about 330 permanent jobs and support more than 1,000 construction jobs.
UCB plans to use automation, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing technologies to support production and supply chain resilience. The campus will also connect its U.S. research with manufacturing and medicine delivery.
“Georgia is working toward becoming a scale-up state for the life sciences sector,” Maria Thacker Goethe, president and CEO of Georgia Life Sciences, said in an interview with Focus:. “We are seeing growth in biomanufacturing, medical devices, diagnostics, and advanced manufacturing, and that creates an opportunity for the state to define itself as a place where companies can grow, manufacture, hire talent, and commercialize.”
UCB has maintained its U.S. headquarters in the Atlanta area since 1993, giving the company an existing presence in Georgia before the manufacturing expansion. Thacker Goethe said the project followed a competitive site-selection process involving the state and multiple partners.
“I think it signals to many other biotech, pharma, and medical device companies that Georgia is scaling up as a hub for life sciences,” Thacker Goethe said. The project also aligns with Georgia Life Sciences’ broader effort to expand the state’s capacity for companies to manufacture, hire, and commercialize locally.
Reshoring becomes resilience
Pharmaceutical manufacturers are reassessing where and how they produce medicines as supply chain resilience becomes a larger national priority. More than half of pharmaceuticals distributed in the United States are manufactured overseas, while only 11% of active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturers are U.S.-based, according to the FDA.
“Biomanufacturing is becoming a major strategic priority nationally, especially as the United States focuses on better supply chain resilience and domestic production,” Thacker Goethe said. Federal policy is moving in the same direction: the FDA launched its PreCheck program in 2026 to encourage new domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity and strengthen the U.S. drug supply chain
Georgia is positioning its logistics network as part of that manufacturing proposition. Thacker Goethe pointed to the state’s “airport, rail system, ports, and cold-chain capabilities,” while Georgia’s economic development agency reports more than 2 million square feet of cargo facilities at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and specialized cold-chain distribution capacity across the state. Thacker Goethe also said Boston Scientific cited Georgia’s supply chain capabilities and resilience as factors in selecting Johns Creek for its facility.
Biologics and newer therapies also place tighter requirements on storage and distribution. In a BioPharm International discussion, Arcadis Director Jeffrey Heil pointed to stricter temperature-control requirements for newer modalities, while Jambulingam highlighted greater use of sensors, route validation, and predictive analytics to monitor products through the cold chain.
Domestic manufacturing is only one part of supply chain resilience. In the same discussion, Troutman Pepper Locke Associate Ryan Last emphasized geographic diversification alongside U.S. capacity and identified fill/finish as a persistent constraint, with lead times ranging from 18 to 30 months.
The workforce test
As biomanufacturing facilities adopt automation, AI, robotics, and other advanced technologies, workforce development is becoming part of the infrastructure challenge. “Curriculum and training needs have to adapt to meet the future technology being built at these sites in Georgia and around the country as national resilience becomes a greater priority,” Thacker Goethe said.
Thacker Goethe said other states have been more intentional about supporting life sciences through incentives and infrastructure investment, but she sees workforce development as an area where Georgia can compete. “Georgia has a strong opportunity, especially with the UCB win, to come out of the gate in the talent and workforce space,” she said.
Workforce is only one of several scale-up constraints. Thacker Goethe also identified shortages in experienced mid- and senior-level talent, early-stage capital, and specialized BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratory infrastructure. Shared equipment and lower-cost lab space, she said, could give growing companies more options to remain in Georgia as they scale.
The talent pipeline also extends beyond four-year universities. Thacker Goethe said many life sciences roles require a technical degree, while some can be filled with a high school diploma and industry certification, making technical colleges an important part of the workforce pipeline.
Manus Bio provides one current example. In April 2026, the Augusta-based industrial biotech company launched a BioMADE-supported apprenticeship program designed to train biomanufacturing operators through hands-on experience at its production facility, with academic input from the University of Georgia.
UCB is also building its workforce strategy before the Rowen campus begins operations. A September 2026 company posting for a workforce development lead says the role will develop apprenticeships, internships, technical training, and early-career pathways in partnership with universities, technical colleges, government agencies, and workforce boards. The effort gives Georgia a concrete test of whether its education and workforce systems can scale alongside its new manufacturing investment.
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