News & Resources
An Evolving Story Benefiting All
Resources
Final Report of the Strategic Planning Process
GO Virginia Whitepaper
Alliance Recommendations
News
The Power of Partnership – the Richmond-Petersburg Region secures Designation as TechHub by Biden-Harris Administration and U.S. Department of Commerce
RICHMOND, Va. and PETERSBURG, Va., Oct. 24, 2023 – The Biden-Harris administration, through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), announced yesterday that the Richmond-Petersburg MSA (the Region) has been designated as an...
Under Secretary Lago To Visit Central Virginia’s Newest U.S. Government-Incentivized Investments
SOURCE International Trade Administration"In Petersburg, Under Secretary Lago will tour the newly constructed Civica Rx facility, a non-profit generic drug company that will manufacture affordable essential medicines and is a member of the Alliance for Building Better...
Richmond Pharmaceutical Giant Phlow Raises $36 Million
SOURCE Richmond Times-Dispatch by Sean Jones"Richmond pharmaceutical company Phlow Corp. has closed on a $36.1 million fundraising round targeted at growing its research and development capabilities. The funding comes through several undisclosed sources, though Phlow...
Activation Capital Gets $15M From State for Richmond Innovation Center, Medicine Manufacturing Initiative
SOURCE Richmond InnoIMAGE Activation Capital"Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday announced $66.7 million in grant funding for life sciences projects in the state, including a $15 million tranche for Activation Capital. The Richmond organization, which bills itself...
Downtown Richmond Gets $10 Million Toward New Innovation Building
SOURCE Richmond Times-Dispatch"Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday that four biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing efforts tied to the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech will receive $67 million in state funding. The...
Podcast: Can America Make Its Own Medicine Again?
SOURCEAlliance for American Manufacturing"The United States depends on China and India for some of its most critical medicines, but one Central Virginia organization is working to change that. Infused with more than $100 million in public-private funding, including...
Utah-Based Nonprofit Set to Open $140M Insulin Plant in Petersburg
SOURCE Axios Richmond"Petersburg is at the center of a nonprofit’s push to lower sky-high insulin costs. What’s happening: Utah-based Civica Rx is in the final stages of building a $140 million insulin production plant in the city. It’s currently staffing up the...
Good Chemistry
SOURCE Richmond MagazineThe Alliance for Building Better Medicine’s new CEO, Joy Polefrone, discusses her professional journey in chemistry and the challenges and expectations for the alliance and its work "Ongoing efforts to make metro Richmond a locus for the...
Nonprofit Drug Maker to Begin Manufacturing This Year at $140m Petersburg Plant
SOURCE Richmond BizSense by Jack JacobsIMAGE by Civica Rx"A Utah-based nonprofit pharmaceutical manufacturer is gearing up to kick off production at its new Petersburg plant about two years after breaking ground. With construction largely complete on the $140 million...
Radio Segment: This Virginia Town Is Set to Help Fill the Generic Drug Gap
SOURCE WBUR"90% of the medications we take are generic and almost all are made overseas. Now, entrepreneurs are creating businesses in Petersburg, Virginia, to produce essential pharmaceuticals to help ease the generic drug shortage.” Read More
Phlow and Maryland Nonprofit Opening Shared Lab in Richmond
SOURCE Richmond BizSense by Jack JacobsIMAGEby Jack Jacobs"A newly announced pharmaceutical lab facility is expanding a local company’s footprint while introducing a newcomer to the area. Shockoe Slip-based Phlow Corp. and Maryland-based nonprofit U.S. Pharmacopeia...
Phlow Corp., U.S. Pharmacopeia Open Richmond Labs to Develop Pharma Techniques
SOURCE Richmond Times-Dispatch by Sean JonesIMAGEby EVA RUSSO/TIMES-DISPATCH "The Richmond-area partnership that’s been working since 2020 to revolutionize U.S. drug making has reached another milestone with the opening of a new lab space in the city....
Joy Marie Polefrone Lays Out Her Vision for the Alliance for Building Better Medicine
SOURCE The Business Journals by James Shea — Richmond Inno"Joy Marie Polefrone earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Virginia and traveled the world as an executive at global health care giant Philips. In 2019, she quit Philips and moved to Richmond...
Alliance for Building Better Medicine Names Joy Polefrone as Executive Director
Joy Polefrone, Ph.D. will Lead the Organization in Its Mission to Create a Reliable Supply of Safe, High-Quality, and Affordable Medicines in the U.S. Richmond/Petersburg, VA, November 15, 2022 – Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a coalition of public and private...
Alliance for Building Better Medicine Hosts U.S. Economic Development Administration and Senator Mark Warner at a Roundtable Discussion about Building a Reliable Supply of Safe, High-Quality, Affordable Medicines
Richmond/Petersburg, VA – Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a coalition powered by multi-jurisdictional public and private sector stakeholders in the Richmond-Petersburg region, was honored to host members of the U.S. Economic Development Administration and...
Walmart Joins the Alliance for Building Better Medicine to Create a Reliable Supply of Safe, High-Quality, and Affordable Medicines
Richmond/Petersburg, VA – Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a coalition powered by multi-jurisdictional public and private sector stakeholders in the Richmond-Petersburg region, is honored to announce that Walmart has joined its mission to create a reliable...
Pharma partnership to get boost with new labs in Richmond, Chesterfield
SOURCE Richmond BizSense by Jack JacobsIMAGE SOURCEJack Jacobs"Two sizable new laboratory buildings tied to a regional effort to manufacture pharmaceuticals are set to rise in Richmond and Chesterfield. Activation Capital is moving forward with pre-pandemic plans for...
Richmond-Petersburg Region, Collaborating as the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, Secures $111 Million Over Three Months for U.S. Based Manufacturing of Essential Medicine
Richmond/Petersburg, VA, September 09, 2022 – Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a coalition of public and private sector stakeholders in the Richmond-Petersburg region, and Governor Glenn Youngkin yesterday honored National Essential Medicine Shortage Awareness...
Governor proclaims ‘Essential Medicine Shortage Awareness Day’
SOURCE The Progress-IndexGov. Glenn Youngkin presented an 'Essential Medicine Shortage Awareness Day' proclamation to the stakeholders in the Petersburg-Richmond pharma cluster.
Civica Inc. to Expand in Greater Richmond-Petersburg Region, Investing $27.8 Million for a New Testing Facility
SOURCE VirginiaBioNonprofit generic drug company to create 51 new jobs at testing and R&D lab in Chesterfield County that will support Petersburg manufacturing operation "RICHMOND, VA – Governor Glenn Youngkin today announced that non-profit Civica Inc. (Civica)...
Civica announces plans for $27.8M lab in Chesterfield
SOURCE Virginia Business by Courtney Mabeus"Nonprofit drugmaker Civica Rx is investing $27.8 million to establish a new 55,000-square-foot laboratory in Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday. The expansion will add...
Warner, Kaine & McEachin Celebrate New Funding for Petersburg/Richmond Made Possible By the American Rescue Plan
SOURCE Mark R. Warner, US Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia"WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-VA) celebrated $52.9 million in funding from the federal government for the Petersburg/Richmond...
Richmond-Petersburg Region Is a Winner of the National Build Back Better Regional Challenge
Richmond/Petersburg, VA, September 2, 2022 – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) today announced that public and private sector stakeholders in the Richmond-Petersburg region, working together as the Alliance for Building Better...
Richmond-Petersburg pharma initiative lands $52.9M in federal funding
SOURCE Richmond Inno by Drew HansenIMAGE SOURCE PhotoAlto/Sigrid Olsson"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...
White House to award $52.9 million grant to Va. Biotech authority
SOURCE Richmond Times-Dispatch by Michael Martz"The Richmond region has won a $52.9 million federal grant to create a hub for research and advanced manufacturing of essential medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients. The White House announced the grant to the Virginia...
President Biden to Announce 21 Winners of $1 Billion American Rescue Plan Regional Challenge
SOURCE EDA Public Affairs DepartmentPresident Biden to Announce 21 Winners of $1 Billion American Rescue Plan Regional Challenge "Today, President Biden will announce the 21 winners of the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge, the most impactful regional...
Virginia sets a sweeping partnership for hard-pressed Petersburg
SOURCE Richmond Times-Dispatch by David RessIMAGE SOURCEDAVE RESS/TIMES-DISPATCH"Virginia is stretching out a hand to one of its hardest-pressed cities — Petersburg — with a unique partnership that brings together state and local officials, businesses and nonprofits...
Governor Youngkin ‘Incredibly Impressed’ with New Petersburg AMPAC Pharmaceutical plant
SOURCE WTVR by Wayne Covil"As the cluster of pharmaceutical facilities in grow, the nation is expected to see more medicine being developed in Petersburg. Butler said the company is creating end-to-end solutions at the facility with their nearby partners Phlow and...