Roche’s Genetech to Build $700M Facility in North Carolina
The development is the company's first manufacturing facility on the East Coast.
Genetech has unveiled plans to build a 700,000-square-foot drug manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, N.C., looking to invest more than $700 million in the project.
The development will support the pharma division’s metabolic and obesity medicines portfolio. When the facility is fully operational it will add more than 400 high-paying jobs in the area, while the upcoming project is expected to add more than 1,500 construction jobs during development.
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Genetech, a member of the Switzerland-based Roche Group, is a leading biotechnology company specializing in manufacturing and developing medicines for serious and life-threatening medical conditions. Headquartered in South San Francisco, Calif., the company’s current footprint comprises 13 manufacturing and 15 R&D sites across its pharmaceutical and diagnostics divisions, employing 25,000 workers on 24 sites across eight states.
The project represents Genetech’s first East Coast manufacturing facility and will rise near Raleigh, N.C., an already established biopharmaceutical hub. Genetech’s upcoming project will expand the company’s manufacturing network while also strengthening the local economy.
Life science companies secured nearly $4.4 billion in venture capital funding between 2019 and 2023 in the Raleigh-Durham cluster, representing the 13th highest amount globally, according to CBRE. As of last year, this metro’s life science sector landed more than $772 million in venture capital funding, marking the eight-largest amount across global key markets.
Raleigh-Durham’s strong potential
In terms of industrial development, the Raleigh-Durham metro had approximately 5.4 million square feet under construction in the first quarter of 2025, according to an Avison Young report. This marks the lowest point in construction activity since the last quarter of 2022, while representing a 15 percent increase over the past five-year average. Meanwhile, the metro’s industrial vacancy rate reached 6.3 percent, marking a 123-basis-poin increase on a quarter-over-quarter basis. As development activity slows, the vacancy rate is expected to flatten.
In December last year, another manufacturing investment has been announced by Amgen, in the same Holly Springs submarket. The company unveiled plans for its second drug manufacturing plant in the city, investing a total of $1 billion.
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