Health Care 2023: DR. ERIC EDWARDS

In May 2020, just four months after Edwards co-founded Phlow, the Trump administration awarded the company $354 million to create a domestic supply chain for essential drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients in short supply. Phlow says it’s on track to meet the contract’s deliverables by its May 2024 expiration and hopes to land an $812 million, 10-year extension.

Phlow has partnered with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medicines for All Institute, Civica Rx, Ampac Fine Chemicals and United States Pharmacopeia to accomplish its mission. Its Petersburg manufacturing complex is already producing pharmaceutical ingredients used in finished treatments such as antibiotics. This summer, Phlow brought a kilo facility online that can produce 250 to 500 kilograms of medication annually. And by next summer, it plans to bring online a hybrid manufacturing facility capable of producing 40 to 60 metric tons of pharma ingredients per year.

Edwards also co-founded Kaléo, which produces autoinjectors for allergies and drug overdoses. He earned his medical degree and a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences from VCU.

Since 1999, he has been a volunteer paramedic for the Forest View Volunteer Rescue Squad. He also serves on the boards of Lighthouse Labs and Activation Capital.