HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. — The monolithic gray buildings that have popped up around Holly Springs may not outwardly stir excitement. But they’re signs of a once-in-a-generation boon for the former plantation town, once dubbed the “poverty pocket” of wealthy Wake County.

The drugmaker Genentech is spending $700 million to build here, while Amgen has pledged $1.5 billion to construct a manufacturing plant. And in September, pharmaceutical contractor FUJIFILM Diosynth opened the first phase of a $3 billion project that will create 1,400 jobs.

“It’s unbelievable, actually. [It] seems like every day I hear of another large pharma company building a $2 billion plant down here,” remarked Norman “Ned” Sharpless, former acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. When he started his med

See Full Page