Before its planned launch later this year, the large Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies facility in Holly Springs has secured an additional client through a significant agreement.
On Tuesday, Fujifilm Diosynth disclosed a decade-long pact valued at over $3 billion to produce medications for the New York-based pharmaceutical company Regeneron at their location in the Triangle region. This new contract makes Regeneron the latest addition to a roster of key clients that includes Johnson & Johnson and TG Therapeutics.
A subsidiary of its Japanese parent company, Fujifilm Corp., Fujifilm Diosynth operates as a contract pharmaceutical manufacturer. This means they do not develop their own medications but focus on large-scale production of medicines for other pharmaceutical firms. Since the 1990s, Fujifilm Diosynth has maintained a facility in Research Triangle Park. In March 2021, the company announced plans to invest $2 billion and introduce 725 new positions at this location.
new manufacturing site
In Holly Springs, a Wake County town with a population of 46,000 located southwest of Raleigh.
When Fujifilm Diosynth announced last April that they would invest an extra $1.2 billion and add 680 employees to their facility, this made it even larger than before within North Carolina’s Research Triangle area. According to Fujifilm, the current workforce stands above 500 people, and they anticipate starting production for Johnson & Johnson’s drugs sometime between mid-2025 and late 2025.
When you consider a pharmaceutical firm, they rely on someone else to help create life for them,” said Laurie Braxton, who leads the North Carolina division at Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, speaking with The News & Observer. “These companies invest significant effort—both physically and emotionally—in developing their products. It’s crucial for them to work with a reliable ally.
FujiFilm’s production and motivation specifics
According to Fujifilm, their facility in Holly Springs is expected to become the largest cell culture contract manufacturing plant in North America, featuring at least 16 bioreactors—eight of which will be part of the first stage, with an additional eight set to come online in 2028.
Regeneron has a dozen FDA-approved or authorized medicines, with its two most popular —
Dupixent and Eylea
— generating $10.4 billion and $5.7 billion respectively in the United States last year. The firm has approximately 12,000 employees within the country and additional thousands overseas.
The main benefit of collaborating with Fujifilm is the capability to significantly boost (almost doubling) our current production capacity at a newly built, almost completed, and cutting-edge facility,” stated Regeneron representative Alexandra Bowie via email. “This approach would take far less time compared to constructing and validating a new site ourselves, which could require up to 5 to 10 years.
Bowie stated that the company does not reveal specific production information for each location; however, Fujifilm will assist Regeneron in producing biological medications such as Dupixent for treating inflammatory conditions.
Both North Carolina and local authorities provided Fujifilm Diosynth with incentives for its expansion in the Triangle region. The state has committed to offering as much as $34.9 million in potential future tax breaks based on meeting specific employment and investment goals. Additionally, Wake County along with Holly Springs has collectively pledged over $140 million in local incentives to this initiative.
As per the conditions of the grant, Fujifilm is required to keep around 600 employees at its Research Triangle Park location.
