Jan. 16, 2026
Bright Horizons
Pitt BioForge is poised to help manufacture precision biomedical medicine and increase patient access to the latest medicines.
TOPICS: Life Sciences
Designs on Aging-Ready
By Strategic Communications
“We are literally at the dawn of precision biological medicine, which is going to change the way we not only treat certain diseases and what kind of therapeutics we come up with, but it is going to demand a completely different approach to the manufacturing and the associated tools,” notes Ken Gabriel, CEO of Pitt BioForge. Still, he adds, “the reality is that many such treatments [like gene therapy] are out of reach because of their costs, with some running as much as $4.5 million.” Though the construction of the BioForge facility in Hazelwood Green won’t be complete until 2028, its experts are already tackling these issues of accessibility and affordability in a temporary space nearby.
One project is a mRNA brokerage service, which democratizes access to the technology.
Another involves dissolvable microneedle arrays that deliver a precision skin cancer therapeutic. After 10 months, the project, in collaboration with Panther Life Sciences, completed its work at BioForge and decided to establish its manufacturing and materials section in Pittsburgh.