The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Company, and Merck to establish a Virginia Center for Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing.
This centre is a large-scale workforce training hub intended to support the state’s growing biopharmaceutical manufacturing sector.
“This partnership will unlock a diverse pipeline of highly skilled talent, strengthen US supply chains, and accelerate the delivery of innovative medicines to patients,” said Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer at AstraZeneca.
The MOU, announced this week, formalises a public-private effort to prepare workers for industry expansion. Collectively, the three pharmaceutical giants have committed $120m towards developing the manufacturing hub.
The investment builds directly on the $12.5bn of capital expenditures expansion investment in Virginia from the three global life science companies, which will create thousands of new jobs over the next several years.
Capital expenditures expansion investment is the funding used to acquire or upgrade long-term assets, such as buildings, machinery, or technology, to increase future revenue or productivity.
Building the biopharma talent pipeline
According to VIPC, the new hub will provide hands-on, industry-aligned training for students, early-career workers and experienced professionals seeking upskilling.
Programmes will range from technician preparation to advanced degrees, with options for micro-credentials, apprenticeships and internships.
The facility will operate as a “neutral training environment” designed in collaboration with the three pharmaceutical companies to reflect real-world manufacturing and quality-control conditions.
The goal of the hub will be to produce job-ready workers who can move directly into high-demand roles at biopharma manufacturing sites across the state.
Virginia’s higher-education institutions will play a role in developing the curriculum, training delivery and pathways from technical certificates through graduate-level education.
The institutions involved in the partnership include: Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, James Madison University, Hampton University, and several community colleges.
Shifting investment from UK to US
The move to create the training hub comes after AstraZeneca, Lilly and Merck all scrapped or froze investment activities in the UK in September.
AstraZeneca paused plans for a £200m expansion at its research site in Cambridge and abandoned plans for a £450m vaccine plant in Merseyside in January.
Merck (known in Europe as MSD) ended plans to proceed with a £1bn expansion of UK operations.
Eli Lilly also paused work on its UK biotech innovation incubator ’Gateway Labs’.
The announcement of the training hub also follows a wave of new investments from the three life sciences giants in Virginia.
AstraZeneca, Lilly and Merck have all announced major manufacturing expansions in the last year, part of what Virginia state officials describe as a rapidly strengthening regional cluster running from Richmond through Petersburg and Charlottesville.
Once completed, the hub will operate across approximately 90,000 sqft of GMP-simulated training space along the Charlottesville-Richmond-Petersburg corridor.
What is next for the hub?
Under the terms of the MOU, a joint steering committee will be formed within 60 days to guide site selection, governance and operational planning.
A final agreement outlining the center’s structure and long-term commitments is expected within six months.
VIPC officials said the center aims to train thousands of workers annually once fully established.
“This initiative will strengthen Virginia's position as a national leader in biomanufacturing and ensure a robust talent pipeline to support the industry's future, in Virginia and beyond,” said John Newby, CEO of the Virginia Biotechnology Association.