Editor's Note: This paid article was written by VEDP and approved by Area Development for publication.
Last fall, Virginia’s life sciences industry transformed in the span of about a month. Biopharmaceutical manufacturing giants AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Company and Merck announced major projects in the commonwealth representing $12.5 billion in capital investment and 1,750 direct jobs. But just as encouraging was what came next.
Eleven days after the Merck announcement — the last of the three — the companies committed $120 million in private investment toward developing the Virginia Center for Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, a workforce training partnership with several Virginia institutions of higher education.
The Virginia Center for Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing is just the most recent example of the spirit of collaboration and partnership that has helped drive the recent string of major investments. The Medicines for All Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University, a collaborative effort dedicated to making critical medicines more affordable and accessible by rethinking manufacturing, is one of the most established partnerships driving Virginia’s life sciences success.
$12.5B
Dr. Frank Gupton and Dr. Eric Edwards founded Richmond-based Phlow Corp. in 2020. That same year, Phlow was awarded a $354 million contract to expand the advanced pharmaceutical industrial base with new manufacturing facilities designed to reshore the development and manufacturing of essential medicines. Nonprofit generic drug manufacturer Civica Rx, a key partner in the initiative, built a $325 million sterile injection manufacturing facility in Petersburg to manufacture affordable insulin.
These organizations all played major roles in creating the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, the galvanizing Richmond-Petersburg regional coalition formed to build a regional biopharmaceutical ecosystem and create a resilient drug supply. A key part of the alliance’s efforts is academia and the private sector working hand in hand, with nearby institutions including Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University and the Community College Workforce Alliance — the workforce development division of two Richmond-area community colleges, Brightpoint and Reynolds — all participating. “That early work to stand up Phlow and Civica made collaboration possible,” said Joy Polefrone, APM Tech Hub regional innovation officer and the alliance’s founding executive director.
That early work to stand up Phlow and Civica made collaboration possible.
In 2023, the role of academia in supplying workforce talent to Virginia’s growing biopharma and advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem received another boost with the announcement of the “Virginia Research Triangle,” which quickly evolved into a quadrilateral with the participation of Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University. Those universities, along with George Mason University and the College of William & Mary, also joined forces with the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporationfor the Lab-to-Launch initiative, aimed at accelerating the path from invention to startup by connecting university innovation with talent, capital and industry.
1,750
Much of the early work done by the Medicines for All Institute and the Alliance for Building Better Medicine laid the groundwork for industry and academia to engage seamlessly, from building new, highly specialized curricula to creating clear pathways from K-12 education through higher education.
Other states “look at us as a model on how you build this together,” Polefrone said.
