Afton Scientific announces $200M Albemarle expansion
Afton Scientific, a manufacturer of sterile injectable pharmaceuticals, plans to invest over $200 million to expand its manufacturing facility in Albemarle County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday. The expansion is projected to create more than 200 jobs. Founded by Thomas Thorpe in Charlottesville in 1991, Afton Scientific is a contract development and manufacturing organization (CMDO), [&h[...]
Norfolk biopharma company appoints CEO, chief R&D officer
Norfolk-based biopharma company ReAlta Life Sciences has appointed David Marek its CEO and Paolo Martini its chief research and development officer, the company announced Thursday. “I am confident that David and Paolo are the ideal leaders for these two pivotal roles,” Edward A. Heidt Jr., chairperson of ReAlta’s board of directors, said in a statement. […]
Reports: Novo Nordisk in talks to buy Petersburg Ampac plant
Two South Korean media outlets have reported that the South Korean owner of Ampac Fine Chemicals may sell its manufacturing plant in Petersburg to Novo Nordisk, the Danish global pharmaceutical company. Sources told The Korea Economic Daily that the Seoul-based manufacturing conglomerate SK Group, which purchased Ampac in 2018 for a reported $576 million, is […]
Briggman leaving post as CEO of Activation Capital
Chandra Briggman is leaving her position as president and CEO of Activation Capital, the Richmond tech incubator announced Monday. Her last day is Friday. Briggman joined Activation Capital, an accelerator arm of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority, in May 2020; the organization includes a biotech park, startup development and cluster accelerator for pharmaceutical research [[...]
VCU launches pharmaceutical sciences undergrad degree
Graduate school isn’t a prerequisite for a career in the pharmaceutical industry. Virginia Commonwealth University’s new Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS) degree will prepare students to step into pharma jobs like quality assurance technicians, research technologists and laboratory technicians, according to Kelechi “K.C.” Ogbonna, dean of VCU’s S[...]
Forty applicants vying for Shenandoah medical marijuana license
Forty complete applications were received for conditional permits to operate as the state’s sole licensed pharmaceutical processor of medical cannabis for a region including the Shenandoah Valley, as well as the cities of Charlottesville and Fredericksburg and the counties of Spotsylvania and Stafford, according to the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. Each company paid an $18,000 [&helli[...]















