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Why Wake County, North Carolina is gaining ground as a biotech hub

By Brian Buntz | March 18, 2022

Amgen

A rendering of the future Amgen facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Image courtesy of Amgen.

Wake County in North Carolina is actively working to recruit life sciences companies.

Those efforts are proving successful.

Amgen (Nasdaq:AMGN) recently broke ground on a $550 million biomanufacturing plant in Holly Springs, a town of about 41,000 in the county. The company anticipates that the facility will be operational in 2025.

In October, Fujifilm Diosynth announced plans to build a $1.5 billion facility in Holly Springs as well. The plant could eventually employ more than 700 people. The company also anticipates the plant will be operational in 2025. It will focus on drug substance manufacturing.

“With the strong embrace of our public and private partners in North Carolina we are excited to add 725 new members to our team over the next several years,” said Martin Meeson, CEO of Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, in a news release.

Holly Springs is based near the Research Triangle Park and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Fujifilm

Rendering of Fujifilm Diosynth’s future facility, Image courtesy of Fujifilm Diosynth.

Amgen’s decision to build a plant in Holly Springs is “no surprise, given the ecosystem the community has built, and it solidifies the town’s position as a leader in biomanufacturing,” said Bill Bullock, senior vice president of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, in a press release.

“We chose Holly Springs over more than a dozen other potential locations for this new plant because the Raleigh-Durham area offers advantages that no other region could beat: an attractive and welcoming business climate, a growing reputation for life science innovation, a diverse pool of talent, and a convenient location that fits well into Amgen’s overall manufacturing and distribution network,” said Bob Bradway, Amgen’s CEO, at the groundbreaking ceremony in Holly springs.

“This area—and North Carolina in general—attracted us due to the access to great and diverse talent, and we intend to take advantage of that as we build our team,” said Bob Kenyon, vice president, site operations at Amgen, in a statement. “The culture at this site will be one of diversity, inclusion and belonging where every single person can feel comfortable in the workplace.

Amgen made the announcement on March 8.

The company received state and local incentives of approximately $35 million, according to News & Observer.

In January, the real-estate firm Crescent Communities announced that it would construct The Yield, a life sciences campus specializing in biomanufacturing, in the area.

Initial construction will focus on building two 105,000-square-foot biomanufacturing buildings that meet cGMP standards.

About The Author

Brian Buntz

The pharma and biotech editor of WTWH Media, Brian is a veteran journalist with more than 15 years of experience covering an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, drug discovery and development and medical devices. Before coming to WTWH, he served as content director focused on connected devices at Informa. In addition, Brian covered the medical device sector for 10 years at UBM. At Qmed, he overhauled the brand’s news coverage and helped to grow the site’s traffic volume dramatically. He had previously held managing editor roles on two of the company’s medical device technology publications. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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