Roche expansion in Branchburg expected to bring hundreds of jobs

BRANCHBURG – Somerset County's claim to being at the core of New Jersey's biopharmaceutical industry received a boost this week when Gov. Phil Murphy visited to celebrate the groundbreaking of an expansion of Roche Molecular Systems' facility on Route 202.

Roche, which employs more than 800 people on the 63-acre campus, received township approval this summer to build a 56,000-square-foot production facility, parking garage with 750 spaces and 85,000-square-foot warehouse.

The Branchburg site is the international company's flagship facility in New Jersey and its largest diagnostics operations center in the United States. The expansion is expected to employ several hundred people.

Murphy, who attended the groundbreaking along with county and township officials, said Somerset County's highly educated and diverse workforce along with its access to regional transportation makes the county attractive to major pharmaceutical firms.

Within a mile of the Roche campus near the intersection of Route 202 and Old York Road are several other large pharmaceutical firms, including Eli Lilly, Life Cell and Tenshi Kaizen.

The governor also said the quality of the county's public schools, Raritan Valley Community College and the proximity to Rutgers University are factors in developing the county's workforce.

"Somerset County has everything businesses are looking for, from our highly skilled workforce to our proximity to transportation to our amazing parks and neighborhoods, and that's why companies like Roche not only come here but expand here," said County Commissioner Deputy Director Melonie Marano, who also attended the groundbreaking along with Branchburg Mayor James Schworn.

Also see:Bridgewater becomes home to another pharmaceutical company

Also see:Sanofi’s North American headquarters will remain in Bridgewater

The expansion will house Roche's polymerase chain reaction (PCR) manufacturing facility. PCR is an efficient and cost-effective way to copy small specific DNA or RNA sequences to improve diagnostic tests.

Based in Switzerland, Roche was one of the first industrial manufacturers of branded medicines and has grown into the world’s largest biotechnology company and the global leader in in-vitro diagnostics.

Roche's annual revenue in 2021 was $72 billion.

Roche has an annual property tax bill in Branchburg of more than $1.8 million.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Roche Molecular Systems expansion in Branchburg NJ to add jobs