Prince William County business Virongy Biosciences, in partnership with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office, is announcing a $471,000 expansion with up to 70 new jobs in Innovation Park, Manassas.
The company, a developer of viral diagnostic technologies, anti-viral drugs, and therapeutic viral vectors, recently relocated to occupy more than 2,000 square feet in the Northern Virginia (NOVA) Bioscience Center earlier this year.
"From welcoming us to the Prince William Science Accelerator in 2015, when it was just a staff of two, to our new space in the NOVA Bioscience Center, where we have the lab space to expand our ideas, our products, and now our staff—Prince William County has supported us from the start," said Brian Hetrick, chief scientific officer. " We are excited to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies for SARS-CoV-2 variants and other emerging viral pathogens."
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Prince William County to secure the project for Virginia and will support Virongy’s job creation through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP), which provides consultative services and funding to companies creating new jobs in order to support employee recruitment and training activities.
As a business incentive supporting economic development, VJIP reduces the human resource costs of new and expanding companies. VJIP is state-funded, demonstrating Virginia’s commitment to enhancing job opportunities for citizens.
“Virongy Biosciences is one of our stand-out success stories not only for the technology and products they produced with our partner George Mason University, but also for their commitment to growing their company right here in Innovation Park,” said Christina Winn, executive director, Prince William County Department of Economic Development (PWCDED). “We are thrilled to have worked with this company to expand and facilitated a productive application to the VJIP program.”
Established in 2014, Virongy focuses on creating cutting-edge technologies in virology, viral vector-based gene therapy, virus-host cell biology, and viral immunology. The company develops new technologies that can be used for scientific discoveries, clinical diagnostics, and disease treatment. Virongy has discovered and developed key technologies and products including Infectin, HIV Rev-dependent Lentiviral Vector, and HIV Reporter Cells. The company’s mission is to provide scientists and clinicians with innovative technologies for studying viruses and viral vectors, and to provide virological services that meet the highest academic and industry standards, facilitating scientific discoveries, clinical diagnostics, and disease treatment.