'True blue play opportunity:' Next-gen pharmaceuticals, data-driven medicine is Pittsburgh's future

By Kris B. Mamula / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Data-driven health care and next-generation therapeutics will one day mean consulting with a doctor in one room, then moving to the next room to receive genetic therapy specifically tailored to your medical problem, 30-year biopharmaceutical industry veteran David Hallal predicted Thursday in Pittsburgh.

“We’re in the earliest stages of the genetic medicine revolution,” Mr. Hallal, ElevateBIO CEO, chairman and co-founder, said during a news conference in Hazelwood. “You can’t stop innovation. Gene editing will change the world.”

About two dozen advanced gene therapies have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration so far, he said, but hundreds of thousands of such medications will eventually be on the market in a technology revolution that Pittsburgh should be part of.

“Let’s bet on the sector of genetic medicines,” he said.

Mr. Hallal was a guest speaker at the release of a Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance study showing that data-driven health care and precision medicine are Western Pennsylvania’s formula for economic growth. ElevateBIO is a private Waltham, Mass.-based biopharmaceutical manufacturing company that’s building a center to make new medicines in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s BioForge.

ElevateBIO will be BioForge’s first tenant in Hazelwood Green, the former sprawling coke-making complex turned high-tech development located off Second Avenue. The center will contract to make cellular and gene-based medicines for both startup companies and big pharma conglomerates alike when operations start at ElevateBIO in 2027.

Data-driven medicine can mean mining patient medical records for health care treatment recommendations and using “ambient listening” of conversations between physicians and patients during office visits to create written transcripts. Lawrenceville-based Abridge, which was founded in 2018 by a UPMC cardiologist and two Carnegie Mellon University researchers, has been pioneering ambient listening translation, counting UPMC, Yale New Haven Health System, University of Kansas, Emory Healthcare and other providers as clients.

“Let’s own these areas as a region,” Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance President and CEO Megan Shaw said about data-driven medicine and next-generation medicines. “No one is better positioned today.”

Data-driven health care is a “true blue play opportunity,” she said, “a true generational opportunity.”

Last year, the life sciences industry in the 10-county region around Pittsburgh accounted for $3.4 billion in economic output and more than 15,000 jobs, according to the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance report. What’s more, life science research and development funding grew 26% in the Pittsburgh region between 2018 and 2022, reaching $1.17 billion and outpacing the national average growth rate.

Biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics are examples of life sciences, which are coincidentally strengths of Pittsburgh’s cluster of research universities, health insurers and medical centers. But converting those strengths into startup businesses and jobs has faltered for years.

Despite the region’s heft in medicine and research, the Pittsburgh area has been underachieving in creating life sciences startups, which was outlined in a 2017 study by the Brookings Institution. Although per capita university research and development spending was nearly 2½ times the national average in 2016, Pittsburgh was still playing catch-up because the city’s “scientific and technical strengths have not fully translated into broad-based economic activity,” the report then found.

Veteran entrepreneurs say that growth of the region’s life sciences economy has been stymied by the dearth of investment capital. That means even successful startup companies often have to move to Boston, San Francisco or other entrepreneurial meccas for funding and growth.

“The Pittsburgh region stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a leader in human health innovation,” the report concluded. “To fully realize its potential, the region must implement a unified and cohesive strategy that enhances its life sciences ecosystem.”

The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance launched in 2024 as a membership-based organization dedicated to promoting the region’s life sciences industry. The study was done by Columbus, Ohio-based TEConomy Partners LLC.

Pitt spearheaded creation of Oakland-based Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance with a $1.2 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. The goal was to develop a unified advocacy voice representing public, private and nonprofit entities in the life sciences.