Albemarle County, the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development, and the University of Virginia Foundation are pleased to announce the location of two new biotech start-up companies, RioGin and Alexander BioDiscoveries, to the University of Virginia Research Park this month.

RioGin is a collaborative enterprise involving former University of Virginia faculty that is focused on improving the performance of pharmaceutical compounds through production of new safer drugs that require less frequent administration, and will create five new jobs in the community.  Alexander BioDiscoveries, also started by former University of Virginia faculty, is a drug discovery company whose goal is to bring new anti-virals into the pharmaceutical pipeline and is projected to add two new jobs to its existing operations.

“We are pleased to be locating our new business in Albemarle County at the UVA Research Park and look forward to joining the thriving biotech community already in place,” said Cyrille Gineste, Chief Science Officer of RioGin.

“These two firms are great examples of the kind of business venture that fit so well in our community, utilizing the intellectual resources of the University of Virginia, the physical attributes of the Research Park and the talent of our local workforce to further advancements in biotechnology,” said Tom Foley, County Executive, in announcing the new business.

As bioscience enterprises, RioGin and Alexander BioDiscoveries are both among Albemarle County’s primary industry targets, and they join an active and expanding biotech community flourishing in the region.  The Albemarle County/ Charlottesville region is currently home to 20% of the biotech industry in the entire Commonwealth and the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology’s GAP 50 awards recognized 16 entrepreneurs from Central Virginia as among the top 50 “most likely to build Virginia’s next generation life science, technology and energy companies.”

“The Partnership’s Target Markets Report released last April identified Biosciences as an industry well suited to Albemarle County, and our region is a place where new technology is encouraged and nurtured,“ said Helen Cauthen, President of the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development.   “We are delighted that RioGin and Alexander Bio Discoveries have chosen to grow their companies here.
“We look forward to RioGin and Alexander BioDiscoveries joining the UVA Research Park community. 

They will occupy space in our Emerging Technology Center lab building and we will work closely with them to support their growing needs,” said Deborah van Eersel, Chief of Staff and Director of Marketing for the University of Virginia Foundation.

Through its Virginia Jobs Investment Program, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance will provide funding and services to support recruitment and training activities.

For more information, please contact Lee Catlin, Community Relations Director, by phone at (434) 296-5841 ext. 3425 or via email at lcatlin@albemarle.org.