Pharma and biotech freight in the Triangle and Johnston County, NC

The short version

North Carolina is one of the country's largest life sciences states. A 2025 industry report counted about 103,000 life sciences jobs in 2023, ranking the state seventh. [15]

The same report said the industry's jobs grew 23 percent from 2019, against 9 percent for the state's private sector overall, with an average wage over $121,000. [15]

Much of the drug manufacturing sits in three places near Raleigh: Holly Springs in southern Wake County, Clayton in Johnston County, and Research Triangle Park. [2][1][9]

Several plants are still being built or expanded. Novo Nordisk's Clayton site finishes in phases from 2027 to 2029, and Genentech's Holly Springs plant is due to make medicine by 2029. [1][8]

For truckers, that means two kinds of freight: construction loads now, and finished drugs and materials as plants come online. No plant publishes its shipping temperatures, lanes or dock rules, so get those from the load tender. Everything here is as of October 2026. [1][2][8]

Holly Springs: FUJIFILM, Amgen and Genentech

FUJIFILM Biotechnologies opened its Holly Springs cell culture site on Sept. 24, 2025. The company plans $3.2 billion there, with eight 20,000-liter bioreactors in the first phase and eight more in a second phase. [2]

FUJIFILM said the site makes drug substance and drug product for other drug companies, with finished goods capability planned for 2026. It had over 680 workers at opening and aims for 1,400 by 2031. [2]

ABC11 reported that about 4,000 people a day worked on the site at the peak of construction. It said the 150-acre campus makes antibodies for clients including Johnson & Johnson and Regeneron. [5]

Amgen cut the ribbon on its first Holly Springs drug substance building on Jan. 24, 2025, and broke ground on a second the same day. The two buildings total more than 500,000 square feet. [4]

Amgen's second plant is a more than $1 billion expansion with 370 jobs. That brings planned site investment to over $1.5 billion and 725 jobs. [3]

Genentech broke ground in Holly Springs in August 2025 on a 700,000-square-foot plant for metabolic medicines, including obesity treatments. In January 2026 it raised the investment to about $2 billion. [7][8]

Genentech says the project will bring more than 500 manufacturing jobs and more than 1,500 construction jobs, with production by 2029. [8]

Amgen first announced Holly Springs in August 2021 as a $550 million plant. FUJIFILM, for its part, aims for about 50 million doses a year by 2031, according to ABC11. [3][5]

Clayton and Johnston County: Novo Nordisk, Grifols and I-42

In June 2024, Novo Nordisk announced a $4.1 billion fill-and-finish plant in Clayton with 1,000 new jobs. It covers about 1.4 million square feet for making and finishing injectable medicines for obesity and other chronic diseases. [1]

The state's announcement said construction would finish in phases between 2027 and 2029 and involve about 2,000 outside contractors. We found no newer official update on its progress. [1]

Grifols, the plasma medicines company, also has a Clayton campus. The state announced an expansion there in 2020; we found no newer official numbers, so we leave its size out. [11]

The main highway changed names in 2025. Ten miles of US 70 around Clayton, from I-40 at Exit 309 east, became I-42. NC 42 nearby became NC 36, and the old US 70 Business became US 70 again. [16]

If a load tender uses an older road name, check it against current signs. NCDOT said the sign changes would take about three months after the February 2025 switch. [16]

NCDOT also named the stretch of old NC 42 west of US 70 Business as Veterans Parkway, another name you may see on directions into Clayton. [16]

RTP: Biogen, Lilly and Novartis

Biogen said in July 2025 it would add $2 billion at its two RTP campuses, on top of about $10 billion it had already put into North Carolina manufacturing. [9]

At that time, Biogen had seven factories across its Wake and Durham County campuses, with over 1,500 manufacturing and technical staff. An eighth factory was due later in 2025; we could not confirm it opened. [9]

Eli Lilly expanded its RTP plant in 2023 with a $450 million investment. Durham County said the work covers injectable filling, device assembly and packaging. [22]

Novartis announced in November 2025 a $771 million plan with 700 jobs by 2030 in Durham and Morrisville, including a new plant in Morrisville. [14]

Lilly also has a separate injectable plant in Concord, near Charlotte. The state announced it in 2022 at $1 billion and 600 jobs, but it sits outside the Triangle. [10]

Construction freight through 2029

The steadiest work for small carriers may be the builds, not the medicine. Novo Nordisk's Clayton project alone was planned with about 2,000 outside contractors through 2029. [1]

Genentech expects more than 1,500 construction jobs in Holly Springs through 2029. FUJIFILM still has its second phase of bioreactors to add, and Amgen's second building has been under way since January 2025. [8][2][4]

Our reading, not a forecast from any source: those builds point to steady flatbed, step-deck, dump and equipment freight into Holly Springs and Clayton for several more years. No source counts the truckloads. [1][8][2]

The state reported nearly $10 billion in life sciences manufacturing announcements in 2024 alone. Most of those dollars go into buildings and equipment before any medicine ships. [3]

Novo Nordisk said its new Clayton jobs would pay an average of $70,000, above the Johnston County average of about $50,600. [1]

Rules that do and don't apply to drug loads

FDA's sanitary transportation rule sets duties for shippers, loaders, receivers and carriers. It applies to food, and federal law defines food and drugs separately, so it does not cover finished drugs. [25][26][27]

Drug makers must store drugs at proper temperature, humidity and light, and keep written distribution procedures so lots can be recalled. Those duties are written for the manufacturer. [28]

Wholesale distributors must store prescription drugs at temperatures set by the label or official compendium, with temperature records. That rule names distributors, not motor carriers. [28]

So temperature rules reach a driver through the shipper's contract and instructions, not a federal carrier rule. Our advice: read the bill of lading's temperature setting, and ask before changing a reefer setpoint. [28]

The federal drug supply chain law excludes a common carrier that hauls a drug without taking ownership from wholesale distribution. A warehouse or logistics firm that handles drugs for a maker is a separate category with its own duties. [36][35]

Dry ice and hazmat

Some biotech shipments are packed with dry ice. The federal hazmat table lists it as Class 9, UN1845, marked as regulated only by air or vessel. [38]

That means dry ice moving only by highway is not subject to the federal hazmat rules, unless it also counts as a hazardous substance or waste. [38]

The dry ice packaging and marking rules in 49 CFR 173.217 are written for air and vessel shipments. If your truck leg feeds an air shipment, the shipper handles that packaging, not the driver. [39]

Our advice, not a rule: other items on the same load may still be hazmat. Check the shipping papers rather than assuming the whole load is exempt. [38]

Security and what to ask before you haul

Drug loads are high-value, and cargo theft rings use fake pickups and redirected deliveries. Verisk CargoNet reported social engineering that sent loads to fraudulent addresses in the third quarter of 2025. [41]

We found no official count of pharma thefts in North Carolina. Our advice, not a rule: confirm any change of delivery address by calling a number you already have, not one sent with the change. [41]

Before you book, ask the broker or shipper for the temperature setting, whether continuous reefer data is required, the receiver's appointment window and any seal rules. None of the plants above publishes these. [2][4][1]

For Raleigh-area basics, including RDU's cargo areas, the Complete 540 toll road and city truck routes, see our Raleigh city page. [23][17]