Greater Richmond

Advantages for Life Sciences

Greater Richmond's

Life Sciences Industry

The chemical industry is Greater Richmond’s largest manufacturing industry, with around 8,000 employees

Pharmaceuticals are an important sector of the overall industry. The area’s largest pharmaceutical firm is Wyeth (formerly the Whitehall-Robins subsidiary of American Home Products).

Wyeth has two facilities in the area with a total of approximately 1,500 employees. Wyeth’s Richmond roots date back to the 1860s, when Albert Hartley Robins opened an apothecary shop in downtown Richmond. A.H. Robins was acquired by American Home Products in 1989 and in 1994 the company’s two OTC divisions officially became Whitehall-Robins Healthcare. In 1998, the company dedicated an expanded research and development facility for its over-the-counter products in Richmond.

The $80 million expansion relocated formulation research from New Jersey, combining it with analytical development already located in Richmond, initially adding 150 jobs. The 250,000 square feet of lab space was designed to accommodate up to 400 scientists for future expansion. The project includes a pilot manufacturing plant to run stability batches of new products and assess processes for full production. In 2002 the company adopted the name of its pharmaceuticals branch, Wyeth, as the name for the whole company. 

Boehringer Ingelheim Chemical, Inc., headquartered in Petersburg , VA , is one of five U.S. subsidiaries of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation. The German parent company is one of the largest privately held pharmaceutical companies in the world. Boehringer Ingelheim manufactures specialty chemicals for the plastics industry as well as active ingredients for other Boehringer Ingelheim units and for third party pharmaceutical companies.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has an R&D center within the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park committed to the goal of discovering and developing products. The lab produces prescriptive and over-the-counter medicine to treat several diseases including coronary, central nervous system and respiratory diseases as well as HIV and arthritis.  

Synthetic fibers are a local specialty and DuPont and Honeywell (formerly Allied) have had major facilities in the area since the late 1920s. Both companies also have research and administrative support operations in the area, including the headquarters for DuPont’s Advanced Fibers Systems business unit. Together these firms employ about 5,400.

Other chemical companies include Ethyl Corp., which employs around 500 at its Richmond headquarters and R&D facility. In 1994, Ethyl dedicated the new $70 million 215,000-square-foot petroleum additives research facility, adding 200 scientific and technical support jobs. Also in the area are Goldschmidt Chemicals, which manufactures specialty chemicals; Albemarle Corp., a specialty chemicals manufacturer headquartered in Richmond ; Eternal Technology, a Taiwanese manufacturer of photo resist film for circuit boards; and Sun Chemical, a manufacturer of printing ink.

Greater Richmond ’s biotechnology industry is not primarily manufacturing but rather research, development, and testing. A major catalyst has been the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park , which has benefited from the association with the VCU Health System’s faculty and resources, and has provided a site both for university research institutes and new ventures started by faculty members. Local biotechnology firms include Commonwealth Biotechnologies (contract research and testing), Hemodyne (biomedical instrumentation), Insmed Pharmaceuticals (diabetes research), and Aderis (R&D).