Roche and Genentech double investment to $2 billion for manufacturing site in Holly Springs, North Carolina –
Facility to support production of obesity portfolio; began construction in August 2026 and expected to be operational in 2029
Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced this week that it will nearly triple its investment in a new manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The total investment will now reach ~$2 billion and expand the production capacity of a facility focused on cardiometabolic portfolio.
Roche and Genentech first announced the initial $700 million investment in May 2025. The companies broke ground in August 2025, and the facility is expected to be operational by 2029. Previously, Roche CEO Ms. Theresa Graham said that Holly Springs site will serve as a “high-volume, high throughput facility” to support the growing obesity portfolio.
The expanded investment will add ~100 new jobs in North Carolina and support a total of 500 high-wage manufacturing jobs and 1,500 construction jobs.
Roche has committed $50 billion to US manufacturing by 2030
In April 2025, Roche announced a $50 billion investment in its US operations from 2025-2030 to significantly expand its footprint across manufacturing, research, and innovation. Currently, Roche has 13 manufacturing and 15 R&D sites in the US.
Plans include a $550 million investment to expand its existing Indianapolis Diagnostics campus to support manufacturing for Accu-Chek SmartGuide CGM. Of note, the Accu-Chek SmartGuide CGM is available in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and is currently under regulatory discussions with the FDA.
In May 2025, Genentech also announced plans to invest over $700 million to build a 700,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, which will produce next-generation obesity therapies currently in development. Construction began in August 2025.
Other plans include:
- Expansions to manufacturing and distribution capacity in Kentucky, Indiana, New Jersey, Oregon, and California;
- Expansions to existing R&D centers in Arizona, Indiana, and California;
- Construction of a new center for AI and cardiovascular, renal and metabolism research based in Massachusetts; and
- A new gene therapy manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania.
Roche’s obesity pipeline includes incretin-based candidates and Zealand-partnered amylin agonist petrelintide
Roche has expanded its obesity pipeline over the past few years, including through a $2.7 billion acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics in December 2023 and a $1.65 billion partnership with Zealand Pharma in March 2025. Roche’s key candidates include:
- (i) petrelintide, a long-acting amylin analog, currently evaluated in phase 2 ZUPREME-1 (n=494) and ZUPREME-2 (n=216) trials for people with overweight or obesity without and with T2D, respectively;
- (ii) CT-388, once-weekly dual GLP-1/GIP RA, studied in phase 2 trials for people with obesity with (n=360) or without T2D (n=450);
- (iii) CT-996, once-daily oral GLP-1 RA, assessed in a phase 2 trial (n=340) in people with overweight or obesity; and
- (iv) CT-868, once-daily dual GLP-1/GIP RA, which may advance to phase 3 for T1D with a BMI of 25 kg/m² or greater.
At JPM 2026, Ms. Graham said Roche will deliver the “next innovation cycle” in the cardiometabolic field, especially through its obesity pipeline.
Close Concerns’ Questions
- How far is Roche from its goal of $50 billion investment by 2030?
- How will the additional $1.3 billion investment expand the space, production capacity, and efficiency of the manufacturing site in Holly Springs?
--by Kat Moon, Jeremy Alkire, and Kelly Close