The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology Comes to Pittsburgh | | |
“What better place to industrialize manufacturing of advanced therapies, particularly cell therapies? The science is amazing. We’re all, as an industry, very proud of that. But we can no longer keep indulging in that. We must make these therapies cost effective.”
- Christopher Murphy, CEO, ElevateBio
“Pittsburgh has all the right tools to leverage biotechnology to strengthen U.S. supply chains, create skilled manufacturing jobs, boost U.S. economic competitiveness, and help maintain our world leadership. This is economic resilience in action and is critical for our national security.” - Dov Zakheim, Commissioner, NSCEB
From PharmaManufacturing
| | | Forbes 250 - America’s Greatest Innovators | | Two Pittsburgh ecosystem luminaries were listed on this prestigious list, alongside the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates. | | #127 - Suma Krishnan, co-founder of Krystal Biotech, led the creation of the first ever redosable cell and gene therapy. Krystal is also the only company to have FDA’s Platform Technology Designation for their genetically modified, non-replicating HSV-1 viral vector. | |  | #235 - Shiv Rao, co-founder and CEO of Abridge, built the category leader in AI for clinical conversations. Abridge now boasts over 250 health system clients and has been used in over 80 million clinician - patient conversations. | | | Elected Leaders Engaging with the Sector | | Regional officials are eager to learn more about the local life sciences and healthcare technology sector, which employs nearly 16,000 people and on average delivers 58% higher wages than the private sector as a whole. Based on an independent analysis, that could grow to over 40,000 jobs with strategic initiatives that support builders, reduce friction, and help attract capital. PLSA collaborated with companies to help articulate what leaders can do to support that growth. | | County Executive Innamorato and Mayor O’Connor shared their economic priorities and spoke with regional executives about their successes and challenges. | | Staff from Senator McCormick’s Office toured manufacturing sites for Cook Myosite and Bayer at RIDC Park. | | Numbers Driving the Conversation | |
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$2.29 billion in venture funds raised by Pittsburgh companies in 2025 according to the recent report from EY and Innovation Works. About a third went to life sciences.
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$100 million in Governor Shapiro’s budget proposal that would support “Innovate 2.0”, a package of initiatives to support life sciences and the broader innovation economy in the Commonwealth.
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17 and 26; 28 and 42 - They aren’t powerball numbers, and are driven more by talent than luck. The new National Academy of Inventors announced their latest rankings for the top 100 universities in the U.S. and globally based on granted U.S. utility patents. Pitt ranked 17th nationally and 26th globally, while CMU placed 28th and 42nd respectively. That is a lot of IP for one square mile.
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University of Pittsburgh ranks No. 7 in NIH funding in 2025 with over $669M
Pittsburgh Business Times
The University of Pittsburgh is a perennial leader in NIH funding and the medical school boasts 12 departments in the top 10 nationally.
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The Rustbelt City Building AI Unicorns
HealthTech Remedy
Megan Shaw and UPMC Enterprises joined the pod to discuss what is fueling human health innovation in the region.
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New FDA focus should aid Robinson pharmacy
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The new FDA policy is intended to significantly shorten regulatory review for new rare disease treatments. This is a tailwind for PatherRX Rare Pharmacy, which specializes in rare disease treatment distribution and has rapidly expanded over the past decade to employ nearly 1,000 people in the region.
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Wanted: More Women for Clinical Trials
Clinical Leader
The Chief Editor sat down with UPMC Enterprise’s Nicol Ansani to discuss key findings of a national survey conducted by UPMC’s Center for Connected Medicine and AMG Research designed to help understand the barriers to women’s participation in clinical trials.
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First Look: AHN’s new $10 million automated pharmacy in Zelienople
Pittsburgh Business Times
The 20,000 sq foot facility uses robotic automation to optimize prescription fulfillment.
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Krystal Biotech Announces RMAT Designation Granted by FDA to KB707 for the Treatment of Advanced or Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Krystal Biotech
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation to KB707, the Company’s redosable immunotherapy designed to drive sustained, localized expression of interleukin-2 and interleukin-12 in the tumor microenvironment, for the treatment of advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
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Technical.ly
Plus, Carnegie Mellon University unveils its new $100 million robotics center and more Pittsburgh power money moves.
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Pittsburgh Quarterly
New Trivedi Institute for Space and Global Medicine to Advance Healthcare and Skyrocket the Local Economy
| | Start-Up Feature - HEARTio | | |
HEARTio is an AI-enabled cardiac diagnostics company revolutionizing how heart disease is detected and monitored. With a mission to make early detection scalable and accessible, HEARTio leverages cutting edge learning to delivery faster, smarter, and more affordable insight to healthcare providers.
Earlier in March, HEARTio announced the closing of a $4.25 million seed round with participation from Intelligence Ventures, Audacious Capital, VU Venture Partners, LifeX, Bessel, and others. The funds will enable the launch of HEARTio’s pivotal study seeking FDA clearance for their flagship product, ECGio.
| | | Employer Feature - Castle Biosciences | | |
Castle Biosciences (Nasdaq: CSTL) is an innovator in proprietary laboratory-developed tests, which provide personalized clinically actionable information that helps healthcare providers and patients make more informed disease management decisions. Castle operates laboratory facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. All Castle facilities are Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)-certified, College of American pathologists (“CAP”)-accredited and NY state approved. They manage these laboratories to produce the volume of testing required to cover their portfolio of products while maintaining efficiencies, redundant capabilities and business continuity.
Castle expanded to the Pittsburgh region via the acquisition of Cernostics, Inc in 2021 to broaden their capabilities via Cernostic’s specialization in spatial biology and artificial intelligence-driven image analysis of tissue biopsies.
The company is currently hiring for multiple roles in Pittsburgh.
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Strong performance from local companies continues to drive exciting career opportunities across life sciences and healthcare technology. Follow the link below for a sampling of what is out there.
View the latest list.
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Life Sciences Futures SW
Don’t miss your chance to register for Life Sciences Future SW on April 9th in downtown Pittsburgh. Powered by Life Sciences PA and PLSA, the conference will feature start-up pitches, early stage companies presenting to investors, and plenary panels with regional and national life sciences leaders.
Come spend the day with us and hundreds of your colleagues from the life sciences sector.
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What is the state of your Workforce?
We want to listen.
For regional companies to grow and succeed and to attract new outside business investment, we must have a world-class workforce. We are reaching out to as many industry partners as possible to understand their workforce planning. What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? How are regional initiatives and partners supporting your needs and where could you use help or shared investment?
Kate Nielsen, PLSA’s Industry Workforce Consultant, is leading this initiative. Please reach out to knielsen@pittsburghlifesci.org if your company would like to provide input.
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as well as the organizations in our ecosystem, is by
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| | We are always looking for your input! If you have suggestions for newsletter content or spotlights, please contact Austin Price at aprice@pittsburghlifesci.org. | | | | |
