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Architectural rendering of Krystal Biotech's pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Findlay Township.
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'Butterfly babies' may find help with Krystal Biotech's medicines

Courtesy of Al Neyer

'Butterfly babies' may find help with Krystal Biotech's medicines

Krystal Biotech Inc. broke ground in Findlay on Friday for a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant the size of a typical city block and the first of its kind in Western Pennsylvania.

The 100,000-square-foot building in the Airport Corridor will be primarily used to make the company’s gene therapy medicines for rare skin problems. Krystal CEO Krish Krishnan said the building is expected to be done within 15 months, and if all goes well, the startup biotech company’s first product will reach market late next year.

“Krystal is in the business of finding cures for rare genetic diseases,” Mr. Krishnan told local elected officials and others who attended the ceremony. The products are needed by “quite an underserved population,” he said.

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Krystal Biotech is a clinical stage gene therapy company that was founded in 2016 and completed a $45.5 million initial public offering in 2017. The company’s lead medicine, which will soon begin pivotal phase III clinical trials in humans, is a topical gel that can be used to treat a rare disease that causes the skin to blister and tear easily.

Krystal’s products will be able to be frozen and shipped globally, Mr. Krishnan said, and its first product will treat dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Newborns with the disease are sometimes called “butterfly babies” because their skin is as fragile as butterfly wings.

The South Side-based company, which employs about 55 people, anticipates adding 70 employees when the manufacturing facility opens and reach a workforce of 200 to 220 when the plant becomes fully operational, he said. Krystal will continue using its South Side facilities, which include a 4,500-square-foot pharmaceutical lab.

Mr. Krishnan said the cost of the new plant will range between $70 million and $90 million.

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“Gene therapy — this is the cutting edge of science right now,” said Christian Manders, chief operating officer of Uptown-based Promethean LifeSciences Inc. who is active in promoting Pittsburgh’s startup community. “It’s a huge deal.”

Kris B. Mamula: kmamula@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699

First Published: January 24, 2020, 9:31 p.m.

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Architectural rendering of Krystal Biotech's pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Findlay Township.  (Courtesy of Al Neyer)
Courtesy of Al Neyer
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