The Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a partnership of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies and other organizations in Richmond and Petersburg, has landed $1 million in funding from the National Science Foundation.
The alliance is one of 15 recipients of the NSF’s Regional Engines Development grant program, which is doling out awards for the first time.
The Alliance for Building Better Medicine includes 16 partners and 23 supporting organizations. Participating members in the NSF program include Activation Capital, the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Virginia Commonwealth University and Rockville, Maryland-based U.S. Pharmacopeia.
The alliance has worked over the last year to scale up the Richmond-Petersburg region’s advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing with an aim for building up domestically produced medicines. The group was led by Director Joy Marie Polefrone until December, when she shifted to a job with the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, according to her LinkedIn profile. The CCAM is one of the alliance’s partnering organizations.
The alliance said the NSF grant will support its work collaboratively to improve the supply chain for vital medicines “that has put the health of communities at risk.”
The NSF grant follows $53 million in federal money the alliance secured in 2022 through the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, a $1 billion pot of grant funding created through the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan. About $40 million in state funding and $14 million in donations have followed.
In October, the Richmond-Petersburg region was designated by the White House as a regional tech hub for advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing, making it eligible for additional federal investment.
Robby Demeria, founding board chair of the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, said in a statement the NSF grant “is a resounding endorsement to continue hard work, to push through obstacles, to not stop until access to essential medicines needed to sustain life and concur disease is a reality.”
Other members of the alliance include Civica Inc., a U.S. nonprofit drug manufacturer preparing a new generic insulin facility in Petersburg, and Phlow Corp., a public benefit corporation based in Richmond that grew out of drug manufacturing work at VCU.
