Genentech to build $700M fill-finish facility in Holly Springs

Genentech, considered one of the biotech industry’s founding companies, plans to build a $700 million, 700,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Holly Springs. The company expects to employ 420 people at the new high-volume fill-finish site.

Genentech CEO Ashley Magargee announced the investment at its Washington, D.C., headquarters. This will be the company’s first footprint in North Carolina.

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein was at the announcement and praised the company’s investment, which is the first major life sciences announcement of his term.

"World-class companies like Genentech recognize that North Carolina is a leading state for biotechnology,” Stein said. “These companies know that our life science workforce is ready to help them deliver their cutting-edge medicines to the world. We are proud to welcome Genentech to North Carolina.”

The N.C. Department of Commerce’s Economic Investment Committee this morning, prior to the announcement, approved performance-based, discretionary incentive grants for the project totaling $9.8 million over 12 years. Additional incentives include $756,000 from the N.C. Community College System, $827,400 from the Commerce Dept.’s Division of Workforce Solutions, $19.7 million from Wake County, and $13.7 million from the Town of Holly Springs.

"It is exciting to think about this project and all that it brings to Holly Springs, Wake County and the entire state," said Bill Bullock, senior vice president for economic and statewide development for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. "We look forward to working with Genentech in the future. This company brings an impressive history of collaboration and innovation that will fit well in our life sciences ecosystem in North Carolina."

NCBiotech worked with the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), Wake County Economic Development, the Town of Holly Springs, Wake Tech Community College, North Carolina State University, Duke Energy, and Enbridge Gas North Carolina, along with other state and local partners to support the project with site selection and connectivity to the life sciences industry and workforce development resources in the state.

"Genentech would like to thank Governor Stein and Commerce Secretary Lilley for their support and for welcoming us to North Carolina. We are thrilled to establish this relationship with the city of Holly Springs, where we will create new manufacturing and construction jobs while making a broader positive impact on the local economy and community for many years to come,” said Magargee, Genentech's CEO. “Our new facility will serve as an important new setting within our manufacturing network to help deliver on the promise of our company’s life-changing science and industry-leading pipeline."

Although wages will vary depending on the position, the average salary for the new positions will be $119,833, compared with an average wage in Wake County of $76,643. The new positions will bring an annual payroll impact to the community of more than $50 million per year.

Officials from Holly Springs and state economic development representatives gathered at NCBiotech's offices for an event to celebrate the announcement and speak with local media.

A biotech pioneer

Genentech was founded in 1976 by the late venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and Herbert W. Boyer, Ph.D., a biochemist who first demonstrated the usefulness of recombinant DNA technology to produce commercial medicines, which laid the groundwork for Genentech’s development. Swanson, who died in 1999, was a partner with Kleiner & Perkins before forming Genentech with Boyer. 

One of Genentech’s early successes was the development of a synthetic insulin and the first targeted antibody for cancer. Biologic therapeutics now make up a rapidly growing share of the pharmaceutical market and continue to offer new hope for difficult-to-treat diseases. 

Genentech has more than 13,500 employees worldwide and 785,000 square feet of space devoted to research. The company has more than 20,000 patents, 40+ medicines on the market, and 39 FDA Breakthrough Therapy designations.

The company has three major areas of focus: oncology, neuroscience and ophthalmology. Its list of approved drugs is long, including well-known names Avastin, Herceptin, Rituxan and Tamiflu.

In January 2025, Glassdoor named Genentech one of the “Best Places to Work” for the ninth time. A month later, Forbes named Genentech one of “America’s Best Large Employers” for the 10th consecutive year.

“Genentech is a true biotech pioneer and continues to be a leader in innovation,” said Laura Rowley, vice president, life sciences economic development at NCBiotech, “while North Carolina’s leadership in biomanufacturing makes the state perfectly poised to support Genentech in their promise to improve the lives of all patients.”

Another win for Holly Springs

The Genentech announcement marks another in a string of wins for Holly Springs. The fast-growing town in Wake County has seen biotech giants FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, CSL Seqirus and Amgen establish and expand large manufacturing sites there over the past few years.

“Genentech siting its first East Coast production facility in North Carolina is a gamechanger for our already strong biotechnology sector,” said N.C. Commerce Sec. Lee Lilley. “Thanks to amazing state leadership from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and continued investments in workforce and infrastructure, these kinds of successes breed great jobs and great therapies that make the world a healthier place.”

A member of the Roche Group since 2009, South San Francisco-based Genentech plans to build its new facility near Amgen’s multi-product drug substance site. Founded in 1980, Amgen’s FleXbatch facility in Holly Springs is a more than $1.5 billion investment expected to employ 700 people once fully operational in 2032; it represents another California-based biotech pioneer leveraging North Carolina’s biomanufacturing prowess.

Genentech’s Holly Springs facility will be within a few miles of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ end-to-end cell culture biopharmaceutical CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organization) facility in the Town, expected to be the largest of its type in the U.S. once complete. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies has announced two major tenants. Last month, it signed an agreement valued at more than $3 billion to produce biologic medicines for Regeneron. Its first tenant, Janssen Supply Group, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, was announced in November 2023. 

CSL Seqirus began its history in Holly Springs more than a decade ago. Novartis built a $1 billion plant there and began production in 2014. NCBiotech and numerous public and private partners collaborated for several years to recruit the facility to North Carolina. Novartis sold the plant and its vaccines business in 2015 to the vaccines division of CSL Ltd., an Australian biopharmaceutical company, for $275 million. CSL renamed the vaccines business Seqirus.

CSL Seqirus produces vaccines through a novel cell culture process instead of the traditional method of using poultry eggs. The company grows, or cultures, inactivated viruses that protect against flu infection in mammalian cells inside sterile, stainless-steel bioreactors.

Biomanufacturing on a run

In 2024, North Carolina had a record-breaking year for life sciences investments. Twenty-five companies announced expansions or new facilities totaling more than $10.8 billion, including $2.22 billion in Holly Springs. Those projects are expected to create more than 4,500 jobs in 16 communities across the state.

In more good news, North Carolina’s life sciences industry continues to outpace national industry growth and most other top-tier life sciences states. That key statistic and others were highlighted in the latest TEConomy Partners report, “2024 Evidence & Opportunity: Impact of Life Sciences in North Carolina.” NCBiotech commissions TEConomy for a detailed look at North Carolina life sciences. 

The 2024 report points to tangible progress of the state’s life sciences industry, which continues to outpace national industry growth and even the growth of other top-tier life sciences states. 

“The growth is significant, not just for a steady new job and career opportunities for North Carolinians, but also for the strong wage premiums and varied skill demands the industry is generating,” the report states.

Genentech’s project in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier today. Over the 12-year term of this grant, the project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by more than $3 billion. 

Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs and the capital investment, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $9,846,750, spread over 12 years and based on the creation of 420 jobs. State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets.