Biotech pioneer Genentech plans to invest $700 million and create 420 jobs in the Wake County town of Holly Springs. Genentech, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Roche Holdings, plans to pay an average annual wage of $119,833 over five years, beginning in 2028 and make the investment by Dec. 31, 2030, according to the state Economic Investment Committee.
Wake County’s current average pay is $76,643.
South San Francisco-based Genentech makes medicines for people with serious and life-threatening conditions. It created the first targeted antibody for cancer and the first medicine for primary progressive multiple sclerosis. The company has more than 13,500 employees, more than 40 medicines on the market and has had 39 FDA breakthrough therapy designations. Roche currently has more than 400 employees in North Carolina, including 29 who work for Genentech.
Genentech will build a 700,000-square-foot, high-volume fill-finish operation to support its existing product portfolio and meet demand for its medicines, according to the state. It will be Genentech’s first East Coast production facility.
Genentech looked at more than 60 locations before deciding on Holly Springs. The final decision came down to Holly Springs and another site in Ohio.
The state’s Economic Investment Committee awarded Genentech a Job Development Investment Grant of $9.8 million, payable over 12 years, on Monday. Holly Springs and Wake County added $33.5 million in investment grants. The grants are only payable if Genentech meets investment and job growth targets. The project’s projected return on investment of public dollars is 230%, meaning for every dollar of potential cost, the state receives $3.30 in state revenue.
Genentech will also receive job training help from the community college system, worth about $1.5 million.
Holly Springs, a town of about 46,000 residents in southwest Wake County, is already home to several life science companies. Other companies in Holly Springs include CSL Seqirus, which has a large flu vaccine manufacturing plant, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, which has a biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility, and the biotechnology company Amgen.