Eight months after more than doubling down on its construction of a $2 billion drug manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, Roche is making a similar move on the other side of the United States.
At the campus of its Genentech unit in Hillsboro, Oregon, Roche will invest $750 million to double the size of its existing production facility. The new outlay will support the construction of a fill-finish plant that will produce drug delivery devices, such as prefilled syringes and auto-injectors, which largely allow patients to administer drugs by themselves at home.
The 75-acre site, which is in the western suburbs of Portland, has been producing oncology, immunology and neurology treatments since it became operational 20 years ago.
The new facility, meanwhile, will provide end-to-end filling of low- and high-volume drug devices, giving Roche flexibility as its manufacturing needs change across its evolving portfolio, the company said. Roche plans for the plant to become operational in 2031 and bring 250 new, high-wage manufacturing jobs online.
“Thanks to its skilled workforce and strong community, Hillsboro remains vital to our U.S. operations,” Ashley Magargee, the CEO of Roche’s U.S. subsidiary Genentech, said in a release. “By adding end-to-end filling capabilities, this expansion deepens our commitment to manufacturing in the U.S. and gives us the flexibility to support a growing pipeline.”
