Major pharma company to invest $54.2 million in upgrades to Richmond facility
A major pharmaceutical company that operates a research and development facility in Richmond is planning $54.2 million in upgrades as part of an effort to expand the research it’s able to undertake.
The Richmond expansion of Haleon, a consumer health care company that spun off from the former GlaxoSmithKline in 2022 and produces a host of well-known brands ranging from Advil and Emergen-C to Sensodyne and Tums, will not immediately generate any new jobs.
However, individuals who worked on the deal indicate the upgrades to the facility — which hasn’t been significantly renovated in roughly 25 years — could allow Haleon to increase its Richmond workforce down the road.
“It is a very encouraging step to see big international companies making huge investments in our town,” said Mayor Danny Avula after the Monday morning announcement of the expansion at Haleon’s property off Sherwood Road in the city’s Northside. “And I think, yes, it will attract some new jobs, but it will also bring more talent in this specific area of pharmaceutical R&D.”
Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick said she and Gov. Glenn Youngkin met with Haleon officials in London to talk about an expansion in summer 2024. The state ultimately approved a $950,000 Virginia Investment Performance Grant for the project.
“We made our case, and I will never forget that your chief of R&D, Franck Riot, sat there and listened, and he said, ‘I need to come,’” Youngkin said Monday. “And in fact, he came. He worked with all of the U.S., North American leadership, all the leadership here, and we, collectively, all of you and all of us won.”
Youngkin, a Republican, has emphasized economic development heavily throughout his term and has shown a particular interest in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The first full two-year budget his administration proposed, in late 2023, included tens of millions of dollars in funding for the development of “Virginia’s Research Triangle,” an envisioned collaboration between three of the state’s major universities in the life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The General Assembly subsequently put $114 million toward the initiative, known as the Virginia Biotechnology, Life Sciences, and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Network.
On Monday, Youngkin touted the growth of what he described as a “pharma corridor” between Richmond and Petersburg.
“At the heart of a great pharma life sciences corridor is yes, research, but it's also people, and the talent is at the heart of it. And we have some of the most amazing talent in the entire world right here,” he said. “But also we need to make sure we build it.”
Besides the $54.2 million investment in the facility, Haleon and Virginia on Monday also announced they will partner with Virginia Commonwealth University to launch a five-year paid internship program intended to funnel life sciences and pharmaceutical students into consumer health care jobs. Haleon North America President Lisa Paley in a release said the program aims to “build Richmond as a Life Science Hub and develop the future workforce.”
“As workforce demand continues to grow in Virginia’s expanding life sciences sector, we are dedicated to providing unique learning opportunities for the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists, and we cannot accomplish this without partners like Haleon,” said VCU School of Pharmacy Dean Kelechi C. Ogbonna in the same release.
