Biotechnology company Genentech is growing its plans to develop obesity drugs in the Triangle.  

The San Francisco-based drugmaker said Tuesday that it plans to invest about $2 billion at a planned facility in Holly Springs. That’s more than twice the initial $700 million investment announced by the company in March, a project that alone was expected to create about 420 jobs. The new investment is expected to create an additional 100 jobs, the company said Tuesday. 

“This expansion reflects our long-term commitment to the United States and communities like Holly Springs that offer the kind of world-class biotech talent, top research institutions, and strong infrastructure that make innovation possible,” Genentech Chief Executive Ashley Magargee said in a statement. “This additional investment will create more high-quality jobs, strengthen local partnerships, and ensure a resilient supply of medicines for years to come, allowing us to bring life-changing medicines to patients faster and more reliably.”

The subsidiary of Swiss healthcare giant Roche in March announced plans in March to create a new manufacturing facility in Holly Springs by the end of 2030. That 700,000-square-foot facility is expected to be the company’s first East Coast production facility and Genentech’s first new manufacturing facility globally in the past two decades. The project is expected to support development of Genentech’s obesity medicines. 

The company previously said that it might expand those plans. On Tuesday, executives said the plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2029. 

Genentech is at least the third major biotech company to announce major expansion plans in the town in recent years. Companies such as Amgen and FujiFilm Diosynth Biotechnologies have also been ramping up manufacturing in Holly Springs. It’s also among a growing corps of drugmakers targeting North Carolina for expanded production of weight-loss or diabetes treatments.

Novo Nordisk, which has long manufactured treatments for diabetes and obesity in Johnston and Durham counties, announced plans in 2023 for a $4.1 billion expansion that is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs in Johnston County. Since 2020, Eli Lilly & Co. has committed at least $16 billion to develop new manufacturing sites in the U.S. and Europe, including locations in Research Triangle Park and Concord. And Amgen, which has been expanding in Holly Springs, is currently developing a GLP-1 weight-loss drug, aiming to compete with Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly, which makes Zepbound and Mounjaro. Genentech is also developing a GLP-1 drug.

“Genentech’s increased investment in Holly Springs creates durable jobs and strengthens our life sciences sector,” North Carolina Governor Josh Stein said in a statement. “This expansion reinforces North Carolina’s role in supporting innovation, workforce development, and long-term economic opportunity.”

State commerce officials last year approved an incentives package for Genentech worth up to $13.1 million, including a jobs grant of about $9.8 million. The portion of the project announced in March is expected to grow the state economy by $3.1 billion over the 12-year term of the incentives deal, state officials said. Such incentives are paid out in installments, provided the company meets hiring and investment targets. County officials — who offered millions more in incentives — expect the project to create more than 4,500 direct and indirect jobs.

The Genentech jobs that were announced last year are expected to pay an average annual wage of about $120,000 — 56% above the average private sector wage in Wake County, according to state data. The company — which also makes treatments for cancer, multiple sclerosis and other diseases — plans to add those employees over five years, between 2028 and 2032, state officials said. It was unclear what the wages might be for the additional jobs announced Tuesday. 

More than 800 life sciences companies do business in North Carolina, and another 2,500 companies serve the industry, according to the governor’s office. North Carolina shipped nearly $13 billion in pharmaceutical products globally in 2024, state officials said.

The Triangle has long been a magnet for life sciences and biotech companies due to its affordability compared with other biotech hubs such as the San Francisco Bay area and the Boston metropolitan area, as well as access to a strong talent pool and access to an international airport.

Biotech companies that have relocated to or expanded in the Triangle have cited the region’s talent pool and proximity to major research universities such as North Carolina State, Duke and the University of North Carolina, as well as access to workforce training through the region’s community colleges.

Genentech was attracted to the region in part because of the talent pool. It also noted the region’s proximity to strong academic research and health care institutions and investments in infrastructure and the transportation network. The incentives package and government for the sector were also factors.

Holly Springs in particular has benefitted from its proximity to other life sciences companies in Research Triangle Park. Efforts by local officials to expand infrastructure and make way for shovel-ready sites capable of handling biotech companies have also helped, executives have said.

Amgen — which makes medicines that treat cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and inflammatory diseases among others — cited many of those reasons in December 2023, when it announced plans to add up to 370 jobs as part of a new, $1.02 billion investment in Holly Springs. It was the second expansion announced by the company in recent years. The latest expansion brings the company’s total planned investment in Holly Springs to about $1.57 billion, with expectations to create about 725 jobs. As part of Amgen’s second expansion, the state approved an incentives package worth up to $6.5 million.

Fujifilm Diosynth, a contract manufacturer for biotech companies, announced plans in 2023 to add 680 high-paying jobs at its Holly Springs campus — part of a $1.2 billion expansion of what is expected to be one of the biggest biomanufacturing facilities of its kind in North America. In total, the company expects to invest $3.2 billion and hire up to 1,400 people at the campus by 2031.

Global vaccine maker Seqirus, which finished a $156 million Holly Springs plant in 2022, said in 2023 that it had received a combined $155.4 million in grants to help it increase the inventory of a key component of a proprietary bird flu vaccine and to deliver finished doses of the vaccine.