Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper visited University of Delaware’s STAR campus Tuesday to announce $8 million in federal funding for the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals.
After a tour of the facility, the senators talked about the importance of the institute’s role in both pharmaceutical manufacturing and job creation in Delaware.
“And we’re going to do it in a way that involves continuous manufacturing. So, we’ll be able to do it more quickly, more productively and with better quality. And that helps give us a leg up,” Carper said.
The grants are the latest in a long line of federal funding for the institute: around $230 million in total.
“These funds, in my view, are taxpayer dollars well spent. To allow us to be prepared for the next pandemic, to lead the world in innovation and to make sure that we here in Delaware are training the workforce to make that happen,” Coons said.
The grants, from the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will fund two large-scale projects at the University of Delaware.
$5 million goes towards designing a new facility to support innovation, manufacturing and workforce training.
The remaining $3 million is for a suite of biomanufacturing testing equipment.
