¶ National Resilience
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National Resilience, operating primarily as Resilience, is a biomanufacturing and biotechnology company that develops gene therapy, vaccines, viral vectors and other therapeutic protein products. It is headquartered in San Diego, California and has nine additional manufacturing facilities open or in development, including in Mississauga, Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, North Carolina, Philadelphia, and northern Florida.[1]
Resilience was founded to address problems identified in the private sector during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, with the intention to strengthen medical supply chains.[2] The company works with the Government of Canada and United States Department of Defense, as well as a range of biotechnology companies and universities.
¶ History
The idea for Resilience is described as having originated from discussions between ARCH Venture Partners co-founder Robert Nelson and Luciana Borio, then-Vice President of In-Q-Tel, the venture capital firm of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[3][4]
Resilience launched in November 2020 under the leadership of Rahul Singhvi (of Flagship Pioneering, Novavax and Takeda Vaccines) and Nelsen.[5] It received significant seed funding from ARCH and 8VC, beginning operations with a total of $800 million in capital.[2:1] Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb was brought on to Resilience's board of directors, as was Patrick Yang, former executive vice president at Genentech.
¶ Rapid expansion
In March 2021, Resilience acquired a 310,000 square foot manufacturing facility from Sanofi, formerly used for its Genzyme business.[5:1] The facility is located on land owned by Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.[6] Additionally, the company purchased a second location in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, measuring 136,000 square feet, and took over a Bluebird bio site in North Carolina.[7] In April 2021, Resilience acquired Ology Bioservices.[8] Ology had been awarded a contract in February 2020 from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to develop an advanced monoclonal antibody therapy against COVID-19.[9]
In May 2021, the Government of Canada announced a CAD $200 million investment in Resilience's Mississauga operation, Resilience Biotechnologies.[10] The City of Mississauga issued a statement in support of the investment, emphasizing that the federal funding would allow the company to manufacture 112 to 640 million doses of mRNA vaccines annually and strengthen the country's ability to respond to future pandemics.[11]
In September 2021, Moderna announced that Resilience would manufacture the synthetic mRNA components of its mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine for delivery worldwide, including its newer "bivalent" product.[12]
In June 2022, the company announced it had raised an additional $625 million in funding from undisclosed investors.[5:2]
¶ Organization
Resilience is a member of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine[13] and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).[14]
¶ Personnel
Reliance's leadership is primarily made up of current and former pharmaceutical executives, politicians, regulatory officials, and venture capitalists.[15] It additionally employs advisors including Mark McClellan, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
| Name | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rahul Singhvi | Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer | - |
| Sandy Mahatme | President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer | - |
| Viet Nguyen | Chief Marketing Officer | - |
| Syed Husain | Chief Commercial Officer | - |
| Rich Stoner | Chief Scientific Officer | - |
| Elliot Menschik | Chief Digital Officer | - |
| Ori Solomon | Chief Legal Officer | - |
| Mara Strandlund | Chief People Officer | - |
| Alex Szidon | Chief Business Officer | - |
| Robert Nelson | Chairman, Founder | - |
| Patrick Yang | Vice-chairman | - |
| Frances Arnold | Board member | - |
| George Barrett | Board member | - |
| Mitch Daniels | Board member | Hudson Institute, Center for Security Policy |
| Chris Darby | Board member | - |
| Susan Desmond-Hellmann | Board member | - |
| Kate Foster | Board member | - |
| Scott Gottlieb | Board member | Former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration |
| Joseph Robert Kerrey | Board member | - |
| Drew Oetting | Board member | - |
| Denice Torres | Board member | - |
¶ Investors
Investors in Resilience include 8VC, ARCH Venture Partners, Google Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates (NEA).[15:1]
¶ Clients
Resilience's clientele includes pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, United States government agencies, and academic institutions.
The company works with Takeda Pharmaceuticals' plasma-derived therapies unit, and manufactures Opus Genetics' gene therapies for inherited renal diseases.[1:1] Bluebird bio partnered with the company in order to accelerate its cell therapy portfolio.[7:1]
Its work with the United States Department of Defense includes manufacturing their monoclonal antibody therapy against botulinum neurotoxins.
Its academic collaborators include the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Harvard University, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
¶ External links
Freeman, M. (2022, June 8). La Jolla-based National Resilience lands $625 million for next-generation biomanufacturing. San Diego Union-Tribune. https://web.archive.org/web/20221008060259/https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2022-06-08/la-jolla-based-national-resilience-lands-625-million-for-next-generation-biomanufacturing ↩︎ ↩︎
Shieber, J. (2020, November 23). Resilience raises over $800 million to transform pharmaceutical manufacturing in response to COVID-19. TechCrunch. https://web.archive.org/web/20221002063730/https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/23/resilience-raises-over-800-million-to-transform-pharmaceutical-manufacturing-in-response-to-covid-19/ ↩︎ ↩︎
Brennan, Z. (2021, July 26). Bob Nelsen’s ARCH adds FDA, biodefense expertise with appointment of Luciana Borio. Endpoints News. https://archive.today/2023.07.29-160500/https://endpts.com/arch-adds-fda-biodefense-expertise-with-appointment-of-luciana-borio/ ↩︎
Mast, J. (2020, November 23). Bob Nelsen raises $800M and recruits a star-studded board to build the “Foxconn” of biotech. Endpoints News. http://archive.today/2023.07.29-083512/https://endpts.com/bob-nelsen-raises-800m-and-recruits-a-star-studded-board-to-build-the-foxconn-of-biotech/ ↩︎
Kansteiner, F. (2021, March 24). National Resilience, months after launching with $800M, snags Sanofi biomanufacturing plant. Fierce Pharma. http://archive.today/2023.09.12-195402/https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/manufacturer-national-resilience-helmed-by-former-novavax-chief-snags-sanofi ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Powell, A. (2021, March 22). National Resilience takes over Genzyme/Sanofi building in Allston. Harvard Crimson. https://web.archive.org/web/20221025191104/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/03/national-resilience-takes-over-genzyme-sanofi-building-in-allston/ ↩︎
Sagonowski, E. (2021, July 28). National Resilience forks over $110M for North Carolina manufacturing site in bluebird bio cell therapy partnership. Fierce Pharma. https://web.archive.org/web/20221029174045/https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/national-resilience-picks-up-nc-manufacturing-site-bluebird-bio-cell-therapy ↩︎ ↩︎
Sterling, J. (2021, April 13). Resilience Acquires Ology Bioservices. GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. https://web.archive.org/web/20220412084044/https://www.genengnews.com/topics/bioprocessing/resilience-acquires-ology-bioservices/ ↩︎
MABS Manufacturing Platform Development Agreement with Ology - W911QY-20-9-0003. (2020, February 21). United States Department of Health and Human Services. https://web.archive.org/web/20211211001717/https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/mabs-manufacturing-platform-development-agreement-with-ology.pdf ↩︎
Power, J. (2021, May 18). Government of Canada continues to strengthen Canada’s biomanufacturing sector. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20221029190629/https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2021/05/government-of-canada-continues-to-strengthen-canadas-biomanufacturing-sector.html ↩︎
City of Mississauga Thrilled with $200 Million Investment to Expand Resilience Biotechnologies Inc.’s Vaccine Manufacturing in Mississauga. (2021, May 19). City of Mississauga. https://web.archive.org/web/20221029190606/https://www.mississauga.ca/city-of-mississauga-news/news/city-of-mississauga-thrilled-with-200-million-investment-to-expand-resilience-biotechnologies-inc-s-vaccine-manufacturing-in-mississauga/ ↩︎
Higgins-Dunn, N. (2021, September 8). Moderna taps National Resilience’s new Canadian manufacturing site for COVID-19 vaccine production duties. Fierce Pharma. https://archive.ph/2022.10.29-065703/https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/abbvie-expects-skyrizi-and-rinvoq-eclipse-humiras-sales-peak-ceo-gonzalez-says ↩︎
Members & Profiles. Alliance for Regenerative Medicine. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.10.05-211734/https://alliancerm.org/members/members-and-profiles/ ↩︎
BIO Member Directory. Biotechnology Innovation Organization. Retrieved March 24, 2024, from https://www.bio.org/bio-member-directory ↩︎
Resilience Team | Biopharma Scientists & Biomanufacturing Specialists. Resilience. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221030053435/https://resilience.com/meet/team/ ↩︎ ↩︎