Pittsburgh’s BioForge tackles the manufacturing challenges that keep precision medicines from reaching patients, developing scalable ways to produce biologic therapies and related technologies. A wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Pittsburgh, it works through small cross-disciplinary teams on fixed-budget, 18- to 36-month projects that must demonstrate results at convincing scale. Its fuRNAce initiative extends that mission by giving RNA designers a streamlined route to custom manufacturing through validated partners.
Forge BiologicsFounded by gene therapy developers for developers, Forge Biologics is a Columbus, Ohio-based contract development and manufacturing organization focused on AAV gene therapy development and production. Its 200,000-plus-square-foot Hearth facility has 20 cGMP suites and supports programs from research through clinical and commercial manufacturing. Forge is part of Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services and brings more than 450 experts to its work with gene therapy developers.GROVE CITY, OH
Franklin BiolabsFranklin Biolabs is a Philadelphia life-sciences company whose team has helped shape genetic medicine for more than four decades, with expertise carried forward from the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Vector Core. Today, it serves biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and academic researchers as a preclinical CRO, helping advance therapies from early research toward clinical development.325414PHILADELPHIA, PA
Krystal Biotech, IncPittsburgh-based Krystal Biotech develops and commercializes redosable genetic medicines for rare diseases, using an engineered HSV-1 vector platform designed for focal, minimally invasive gene delivery. Its first commercial product, VYJUVEK®, is the first and only redosable gene therapy for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, while two U.S. GMP facilities—including a roughly 155,000-square-foot ASTRA site—support manufacturing and pipeline development. Krystal is fully integrated across vector design, gene therapy manufacturing and commercialization.325412PITTSBURGH, PA
BioFactura, IncFounded in Frederick in 2004, BioFactura develops and manufactures biosimilars, biodefense medical countermeasures, and other biologic medicines using its patented StableFast biomanufacturing platform. The clinical-stage company has advanced programs for a smallpox therapeutic and a proposed ustekinumab biosimilar, while its Capitol Biologics division provides development and early-phase clinical manufacturing support to emerging biotech firms and government agencies.FREDERICK, MD