Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, plans to invest more than $700 million in a new 700,000 square foot drug manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, NC. Genentech’s Ashley Magargee added, “Our new facility near Raleigh, North Carolina, an established biopharmaceutical talent hub, 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.”

The project will add more than 400 high-wage manufacturing jobs when the site is operational and more than 1,500 construction jobs during site development. The new facility will ultimately support Roche and Genentech’s future portfolio of next-generation obesity medicines and this initial investment could expand in the future based on business needs and the U.S. policy environment.

Roche and Genentech’s current U.S. footprint includes 13 manufacturing and 15 R&D sites across the company’s Pharmaceutical and Diagnostics Divisions and 25,000 employees in 24 sites across eight U.S. states.