Partnering to Bolster Economic Growth Throughout Virginia
On the Path to Business Success Through Collaboration
Virginia is closing 2025 with a great deal of momentum in the biopharma advanced manufacturing space, bolstered by multi-billion-dollar investments from Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca, and Merck and Co. The recent announcements highlight Virginia’s greatest strengths in the advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing industry — workforce, partnership, and site development — and speak to a growing consensus that the Commonwealth can deliver what companies need, at the speed of business.
Lilly, AstraZeneca, and Merck will bring a combined $12.5 billion in investment, 1,750 direct jobs, another 2,570 indirect jobs, and most importantly, advanced manufacturing facilities producing drugs to make Americans healthier. Lilly’s new manufacturing facility in Goochland County positions Virginia as a cornerstone of America’s domestic pharmaceutical supply chain, producing both critical cancer drug components and finished medicines.
AstraZeneca is establishing two new manufacturing facilities in Albemarle County, which is the largest single manufacturing investment in the company’s history. Rounding out the trifecta, Merck, a company with an 80-year history in the Shenandoah Valley, is starting construction on a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility expansion at its Elkton site in Rockingham County.
What appears as sudden success is the result of a strategy that has been years in the making in the Commonwealth. For decades, Virginia has cultivated partnerships and aligned education, workforce, research and development, sites, and logistics to the needs of an industry defined by precision, scale, and speed. Today, Virginia’s biopharma advanced manufacturing ecosystem is on fire.
Lilly’s Chair and CEO David A. Ricks highlighted Virginia’s strategy in his remarks during the Lillly announcement saying, “We chose Virginia because we have learned we have reliable partners here and great people who turn commitments into results. Virginia has infrastructure, transportation networks, utilities, a digital economy to support us, and all those things are just vital to a complex operation like the one we’re setting up here. Virginia has momentum.”
At the core of the strategy is Virginia’s renowned education system, where we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into education and research. Virginia has been ranked No. 1 in education for the past three consecutive years by CNBC. Virginia’s K-12 system, colleges and universities, and workforce development programs ensure companies have access to a highly skilled workforce.
Flagship institutions like Virginia Commonwealth University (including the Medicines for All Institute), the University of Virginia (with the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology), and Virginia Tech (and its Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in nearby Roanoke, associated with the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine) are nationally recognized for educating engineers and scientists while advancing medical research.
Pharmaceutical manufacturing programs at Virginia community colleges give students hands-on experience in complex drug production with an assist from the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, while incubators like CvilleBioHub in Charlottesville, George Mason University’s Innovation Park, and the Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium (which leverages the presence of Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News) help drive life sciences research, development, and innovation in the Commonwealth. The University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University, and Virginia Tech are part of a $96 million research conglomerate aimed at fostering collaboration in biotech, life sciences, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot attributed his company’s decision to build in Virginia to the education system here when he said, “We are in Virginia because we can find talented scientists, we can find talented engineers, and some of the best universities in the country that we can recruit people from.”
At the end of the day, every business decision relies on access to talent, which is why we have made talent a primary focus of our economic development strategy. We are positioning Virginia as America’s top state for talent. The Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, ranked the No. 1 customized workforce training program in the United States by Business Facilities the last three years and by Area Development in 2025, is a key point in Virginia’s workforce pitch to prospective companies.
The program, created by VEDP in collaboration with the Virginia Community College System and other higher education partners, provides hand-in-glove training and recruitment solutions that are fully customized to a given company’s needs. All program services are provided at no cost to qualified new and expanding companies as an incentive for job creation. Lilly, AstraZeneca, and Merck are all using Talent Accelerator services to help staff their new facilities.
Targeted financial investments over the past five years have helped build biopharma momentum in Virginia. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia began focusing specifically on pharmaceutical manufacturing to help alleviate drug shortages and strengthen domestic supply chains. More than $1.3 billion from state, federal, and philanthropic partners has flowed into infrastructure, workforce development, and public-private research collaborations. Not only does this investment turn strategy into capacity, but it also shows the depth of investment by partners at all levels of government and from the private sector.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Richmond pharmaceutical manufacturer Phlow Corp. secured a $354 million contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to produce essential medicines for the Strategic National Stockpile. The company’s manufacturing partner, Civica Rx, was awarded a 10-year contract to produce low-cost insulin at its Petersburg facility. Now, with Lilly ramping up to produce cancer drugs at its new Goochland County facility and AstraZeneca producing weight loss drugs in Albemarle County, Virginia is key to the national pharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem.
Like the federal government, global industry leaders are validating the Commonwealth’s model. The new AstraZeneca and Lilly facilities and Merck’s expansion affirm Virginia’s capabilities and will strengthen Virginia’s momentum in attracting and retaining talent. These biopharma anchors also will attract suppliers and shorten supply chains. The ripple effect creates more opportunities for students, more choices for companies, and a deeper ecosystem for innovation in Virginia.
At the end of the day, it comes down to partnerships. It is why we see companies like Merck that have been in the Commonwealth for nearly 85 years continuing to reinvest in our state. What makes Virginia a terrific business environment that moves at the speed of business is our strong partnerships. Every level of state and local government, as well as the private sector, works together to solve business needs at speed. These partnerships will leverage Virginia’s culture of innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration to help keep America healthy and at the forefront of the biopharma industry.
AT A GLANCE
Who: Virginia Economic Development Partnership
What: The main source of collaboration, education and expertise to bolster economic growth through the state of Virginia
Where: Virginia, USA
