Greater Philadelphia Regional Life Sciences Roundup – October 08, 2026
Each week, our Regional Roundup delivers the most important and timely life sciences news from around the region. From groundbreaking research to fundraising, new development projects, and who’s hiring — we bring you the top stories that matter most. Stay informed with a curated selection of the latest news, delivered directly to your inbox weekly.
This week, Greater Philadelphia put the spotlight on the people who usually work out of frame. That means the security chiefs who protect patient and research data, the calibration experts who keep lab equipment accurate, the deans and incubator builders preparing the region’s next companies and clinicians, and a hospital that planned its CEO handoff a full year ahead. None of them run trials or make drugs, but very little in this region’s life sciences scene works without them.
Half of this year’s Philadelphia ORBIE winners came from life sciences and health care. The CIOs and CISOs at CSL, PTC Therapeutics, CHOP and Main Line Health were recognized for protecting the data the sector runs on. Krieger Scientific added two Regional Directors with more than 50 years of combined experience in calibration, metrology and life sciences sales to support its growth along the East Coast.
The same goes for the companies behind the companies. Penn Medicine and IBA launched Noventra Oncology Alliance on the idea that buying a proton therapy machine is the easy part, and health systems need a partner for everything that comes after. Hatboro’s KMM Group named a new VP of Operations and CFO before adding equipment and capacity for its medical device customers. Kymanox launched KymaBridge to help drug developers compare delivery devices like autoinjectors and inhalers. Conshohocken’s TJP acquired Evolution Consulting & Research so pharma clients can work with one partner from early market insight through field execution.
City & State Pennsylvania’s 2026 Trailblazers in Healthcare include a dozen leaders from across life sciences and health innovation. Their work ranges from biotech incubation and AI diagnostics to global clinical trials and medical school expansion. At CHOP, Madeline Bell handed the CEO role to Dr. Joe Mitchell after nearly 40 years, at the end of a handoff planned a full year in advance.
Financial
Tracking the capital moving through Greater Philadelphia— funding rounds, M&A activity, and investment trends shaping Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware’s life sciences companies.
From Maternal Health to Quantum Computing: Penn’s New Fund Backs Its First Spinouts
Penn’s new $10 million StartUP Fund has made its first investments, backing three faculty-founded companies, two of them in life sciences: a maternal health startup working to predict postpartum hemorrhage risk, and an AI platform designing peptide therapeutics. Read More >
From Market Research to Field Execution: TJP Is Building a One-Stop Shop
Conshohocken’s TJP has acquired Evolution Consulting & Research, adding a life sciences market research firm to its agency and aiming to give pharma and biotech clients one partner from early insight to field execution. It’s the company’s second add-on in a row, following its earlier acquisition of FX2 Virtual. Read More >
Need Capital to Scale? Philly’s Catalyst Fund Has Up to $50,000 and Advisory Support
Philadelphia’s Catalyst Fund offers growth-minded small businesses grants of up to $50,000, plus advisory support, to scale up through equipment, technology, marketing, or facility improvements. It’s non-dilutive capital aimed at companies that struggle to get traditional financing, with a focus on local jobs and neighborhood impact. Here’s who qualifies, and what applicants need to show. Read More >
People
Who we’re buzzing about this week — the leadership moves, board appointments, and rising names shaping the region’s life sciences community.
Half of This Year’s Philly ORBIE Winners Come From Life Sciences and Health Care
Four of the eight winners at the 2026 Philadelphia ORBIE Awards, which recognize the region’s top CIOs and CISOs, came from life sciences and health care: leaders at CSL, PTC Therapeutics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Main Line Health. The sector also filled out the finalist list, with names like Incyte, Geisinger, and ChristianaCare. Here’s who won, and why the people protecting patient and research data are getting the spotlight. Read More >
A Planned Handoff at CHOP: Nearly 40 Years of Leadership Passes to a Former McKinsey Partner
After nearly 40 years at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Madeline Bell has retired as CEO, and Dr. Joe Mitchell, who joined as President last year, has taken over after a planned, year-long handoff. Bell leaves a hospital that became a leader in cell and gene therapy, while Mitchell arrives with a background that runs from Boston Children’s to 14 years at McKinsey. Read More >
Regional Directors, One Goal: Meeting Life Sciences Teams Where They Are
Krieger Scientific has added two Regional Directors, Joe Leuser and Michael Hanssens, to support its growth along the East Coast. Between them they bring more than 50 years of experience in calibration, metrology, and life sciences sales, and they’ll cover the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Here’s what each brings, and what the company’s founder says growth should look like. Read More >
Wistar Names a New CEO, and He’s Best Known for Finding Where Ovarian Cancer Begins
The Wistar Institute has named Penn ovarian cancer researcher Ronny Drapkin as its next President and CEO, succeeding Dario Altieri after a decade of leadership. Drapkin’s research helped show that the deadliest form of ovarian cancer usually starts in the fallopian tube, a finding that changed prevention strategy. Here’s what he’ll take on when he starts November 30. Read More >
Workforce
The hiring activity, team expansions, and talent trends driving growth across Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Delaware life sciences and biotech employers.
This Upskilling Program Comes With a Stipend and a Guaranteed Interview
The Healthcare Workforce Collaborative of Greater Philadelphia is opening a paid upskilling program for recently certified medical assistants, with a guaranteed interview at one of four major regional health care employers. Participants get a weekly stipend, career coaching, and a hands-on clinical skills refresher. Read More >
Want to Help Philly’s Life Sciences Job Seekers? The 2027 Series Is Open for Partners
Keystone LifeSci Collaborative wrapped its first Job Seeker Series, five free sessions covering everything from LinkedIn strategy to navigating Philadelphia’s life sciences scene, with coaches, speakers, and partner organizations opening doors for job seekers along the way. Now the group is planning the 2027 series. Want your organization involved? Read More >
Who’s hiring?!
Top Employer
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Audubon, Pennsylvania, Globus Medical has grown from a small startup into a leading global musculoskeletal technology company, with over 6,000 employees and a presence in 65 countries. The company designs, develops, and manufactures instruments and implants for spine surgery, orthopedic trauma, joint reconstruction, and regenerative biologics.
With a strong emphasis on providing exceptional response, innovation, advancing patient care, Globus Medical extends that mission through its Musculoskeletal Education and Research Center, partnering with surgeons and hospitals on training and clinical research. Globus Medical is a major driver of medtech talent right here in the Greater Philadelphia region, with roles spanning engineering, manufacturing, clinical development, quality and compliance, and commercial operations.
They are currently hiring across 160+ roles in the Greater Philadelphia region. Apply Now >
Other employers and available roles we’re paying attention to this week:
- Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (Conshohocken , PA) is hiring a Director, Drug Product SME | Apply Now >
- Johnson & Johnson (Spring House, PA) is hiring for a Discovery Medicinal Chemistry Internship | Apply Now >
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals (Philadelphia, PA) is hiring a Manager, Content Factory- Operations + Personalization | Apply Now >
- ICON plc. (Bluebell, PA) is hiring a Clinical Associate | Apply Now >
- Charles River Laboratories (Horsham, PA) is hiring a Necropsy Technician I | Apply Now >
Clinical + Commercial
The latest clinical trial progress, regulatory milestones, and commercial launches from companies advancing science from the lab to the market across Greater Philadelphia.
Can a Biopharmaceutical Be Sold Over the Counter? One Philly Company Is Betting Yes
Greater Philadelphia’s Medicinal Technologies says there’s a third option between unregulated supplements and prescription drugs: “over-the-counter biopharmaceuticals,” medicines built to pharmaceutical standards that patients can buy without a prescription. Its first product targets women’s reproductive health and is now under FDA review. Read More >
A Disease Affecting Only 300 Americans Just Got an FDA-Approved Treatment
Incyte and Mirum Pharmaceuticals have won FDA approval for Atebrioz, a once-daily pill for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, an ultra-rare disease in which bone forms in muscle and other soft tissue. The approval covers patients 12 and older, and a disease affecting only about 300 people in the U.S. now has a new treatment option. Read More >
A New Search Platform Wants to Be the Matchmaker Between Drug Developers and Delivery Devices
Kymanox has launched KymaBridge, a searchable platform that lets pharma and biotech teams find, compare, and evaluate drug delivery devices like autoinjectors and inhalers, with each listing checked by both the supplier and a Kymanox expert. It aims to replace the scattered documents and manual research that device selection usually involves. Read More >
Ecosystem
The partnerships, programs, and policy moves building Greater Philadelphia’s life sciences infrastructure — and the organizations driving it forward.
Buying the Proton Therapy Machine Is the Easy Part. This New Alliance Tackles the Rest.
Penn Medicine and IBA have launched Noventra Oncology Alliance, a joint venture built on the idea that a proton therapy center takes far more than the machine. It’s meant to be a single partner for health systems worldwide, from first strategy through long-term operations. Read More >
A Hatboro Medtech Manufacturer Is Adding Leaders Before It Adds Capacity
KMM Group, the Hatboro-based precision manufacturer for the medical device industry, has named Amy Goff as Vice President of Operations and Erica Blake as Chief Financial Officer as it adds equipment, production capacity, and staff. Goff brings nearly 30 years of device manufacturing experience, and Blake more than 25 years in finance across medtech and life sciences. Read More >
Who’s Shaping Pennsylvania Health Care? City & State Just Named Its 2026 Trailblazers
City & State Pennsylvania has named its 2026 Trailblazers in Healthcare, and BioBuzz is spotlighting a dozen honorees from life sciences and health innovation, from AI diagnostics and biotech incubation to global clinical trials and medical school expansion. The list spans researchers, deans, and health system chiefs shaping care across the region. Here’s who made it. Read More >
Other [Good] Reads
Editor’s picks from across the web — the stories, videos, and podcasts shaping the conversation in PHL biotech and life sciences this week.
CRB Horizons Report
CRB’s free Horizons: Life Sciences 2026 report draws on insights from more than 400 global R&D and manufacturing leaders to show how companies are committing capital, moving into emerging modalities, and rethinking their skilled workforce. Read More >
FDA INTERACT Meetings: A Guide for Emerging Biotechs
For small biotechs, the costliest FDA question is the one asked too late, after the toxicology program is done or the manufacturing strategy is locked in. Facet Life Sciences breaks down how FDA INTERACT meetings can settle those high-stakes questions early, and why roughly 41% of requests get denied. Read More >
The Philadelphia Biotech Financing Pulse
Philadelphia biotechs have raised $389.4 million through Q3 2026, more than 11 times all of 2025, but nearly nine of every ten dollars came from just four rounds. B+labs’ new Philadelphia Biotech Financing Pulse tracks every deal, exit, and program in the city back to 2023, and it points to gaps that the headline number hides. Read More >
On the Calendar
A few of the upcoming events, conferences, and networking opportunities across Greater Philadelphia’s life sciences ecosystem that you don’t want to miss.
Regional Biotechnology Conference
Thursday, October 15, 2026 • 9 AM -12 PM • Doylestown, PA
Hosted by the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center | Register Now >
C- Suite Summit
Thursday, October 15, 2026 • 10:30 AM -3:15 PM • Bridgewater Township, NJ
Hosted by BioNJ | Register Now >
EPIC Responsible AI Wellness Usage Conference
Thursday, October 15, 2026 • 7:30 AM -1:30 PM • King of Prussia, PA
Hosted by Life Sciences PA | Register Now >
Did we miss something!? Drop us a line →
Stay connected to Greater Philadelphia’s life sciences.
🔍 Explore companies → · 💼 Browse jobs → · 📅 See events → · 📰 Read more →
Get the Greater Philadelphia Region Roundup every Thursday.
The week’s most important life sciences news from PHL— delivered to your inbox.
