Richmond-Petersburg pharma initiative lands $52.9M in federal funding
03 September, 2022
The White House announced Friday the Richmond-Petersburg region is set to receive $52.9 million in federal grant money to create a research and manufacturing hub for essential medicines and their ingredients.
The project, a local coalition called the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, is one of 21 from across the country that will receive grants from the Build Back Better Regional Challenge — a program aimed at rebuilding regional economies, promoting inclusive and equitable recovery and creating good-paying jobs in future-focused industries. The $1 billion pot of grant funding was created through the American Rescue Plan and is administered by the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Authority.
Activation Capital, a Richmond-based state organization focused on growing Virginia’s life sciences industry and one of the leaders of the project, said private and public organizations
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will provide an additional $13.3 million toward the initiative, for a total investment of $77.8 million. The funding will build on a budding advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing corridor between the two cities, including investing in new facilities to expand wet lab space, R&D capacity and “to allow the concentration of commercialization activity,” according to an announcement.The project will also forge a partnership between Richmond’s Virginia Commonwealth University and Petersburg’s Virginia State University to “create new pathways for underserved residents” to receive training and jobs in advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Activation Capital said additional projects will include the strengthening of the community college pipeline for technician jobs, developing a regional supply chain and infrastructure upgrades to build up industrial capacity in Petersburg.
“As a deeply connected region, our coalition members will leverage funding by the Build Back Better Challenge to bring about transformational change by implementing a set of complementary projects designed to expand our region’s infrastructure, workforce, supply chain, R&D and innovation capacity,” Chandra Briggman, president and CEO of Activation Capital, said in a statement. “Every action we take will be grounded in the region and its diverse assets and constituents.”
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the award will help make more medications in Virginia, which will make the country less dependent on foreign manufacturers and can lower prescription drug costs.
Along with Activation Capital, other members of the project include Petersburg’s AMPAC Fine Chemicals, Utah nonprofit generic medicine provider Civica Inc. (which is building a plant in Petersburg), Richmond pharmaceutical company Phlow Corp., Henrico County’s Community College Workforce Alliance, the Greater Richmond Partnership, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Medicines for All Institute at VCU, Virginia State University, Virginia’s Gateway Region and the cities of Richmond and Petersburg.
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