FILE PHOTO: The company's logo is seen at the new cell and gene therapy factory of Swiss drugmaker Novartis in Stein, Switzerland, November 28, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

By Patrick Wingrove

(Reuters) -Swiss drugmaker Novartis said on Monday it has opened a new 10,000-square-foot factory in Carlsbad, California, to make cancer treatments, as part of its pledge to invest billions into building U.S. sites.

The plant will produce radioligand therapies, which are drugs that deliver cell-killing radioactive particles directly to tumors, the company said. Novartis already markets radioligand drugs Pluvicto for prostate cancer and Lutathera for rare gastrointestinal tumors.

The new factory will speed up and stabilize delivery of radioligand therapy doses to patients across the western U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii, Novartis said.

Novartis in April pledged $23 billion to build and expand 10 facilities in the U.S., as it grappled with renewed threats of drug import duties from the Trump administration.

The company said it planned to build six new manufacturing plants, some of which will make raw pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as a new research and development site in San Diego, California.

(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)