Moffitt Cancer Center’s plans to build a cancer drug manufacturing industry in Pasco County have attracted $200 million in private-sector commitments, according to an announcement Thursday by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The announcement also included a proposed $47.3 million federal award for the Florida Oncology and Radiopharmaceutical Growth Engine, or FORGE, a coalition built around Moffitt’s 775-acre Speros campus in Pasco County. The federal money would help build manufacturing facilities, support biotechnology startups and train workers, bringing the combined public and private funding identified Thursday to more than $247 million if the federal award is finalized.
Five months earlier, Moffitt and its partners had launched FORGE with plans to bring cancer drug development and manufacturing into the same regional network, working with the University of South Florida, Pasco-Hernando State College and Tampa-based startup accelerator Embarc Collective. Their particular interest is radiopharmaceuticals, a class of treatments that combine radioactive isotopes with compounds designed to find specific cancer cells, delivering radiation directly to tumors while limiting exposure to surrounding tissue.
Producing those treatments presents a manufacturing challenge because radioactive isotopes lose radioactivity over time, and some decay quickly enough to make long-distance transportation difficult. Manufacturers need facilities capable of preparing the materials, hospitals need reliable access to them and researchers need laboratories to develop additional treatments — giving Moffitt a reason to concentrate those operations around Speros.
The cancer center opened its 250,000-square-foot Discovery and Innovation Center on Oct. 22, adding research and laboratory space to its expanding Pasco County campus, where more than $600 million in broader infrastructure investments are supporting its growth.
When FORGE launched earlier this year, its economic projections called for 4,000 high-wage jobs and $2.6 billion in statewide economic impact over 10 years, although the coalition had not identified how much capital had been committed specifically to the initiative. Thursday’s disclosure provided a new financing figure, but the Commerce Department did not identify the private investors or explain how the $200 million would be divided among the proposed facilities.
Manufacturing radioactive cancer treatments will also require specialized workers, bringing the coalition’s education partners into plans for the new manufacturing and research facilities. Pasco-Hernando State College is expected to contribute imaging technologist training, USF will support nuclear pharmacy education and Embarc Collective will work with biotechnology startups developing products that could eventually move from laboratory research into commercial production.
The proposed $47.3 million federal contribution comes from a $1.45 billion disaster recovery program administered by the Economic Development Administration, which is directing money toward communities damaged by natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. FORGE was selected under a funding pathway tied to hurricanes Helene and Milton that aims to help affected communities develop new industries as part of their economic recovery.
The Commerce Department has not disclosed whether the $200 million in private commitments overlaps with previously announced investments or how much will go toward individual manufacturing and research facilities. The agency also has not released a construction schedule, a project-by-project budget or a date when the proposed $47.3 million federal award will become final.