Moffitt-led coalition lands $47.3M to build Tampa Bay cancer drug hub

A new Moffitt Cancer Center-led coalition of Tampa Bay businesses has secured a $47.3 million federal funding commitment to help them turn the region into a manufacturing and research hub for radioactive drugs used to diagnose and treat cancer.

Leaders from the Florida Oncology and Radiopharmaceutical Growth Engine, known as FORGE, announced Thursday that the group obtained the funding through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s fiscal year 2025 Disaster Supplemental — Industry Transformation program, which funds projects that helps communities build long-term economic resilience in areas affected by natural disaster, the release says.

Combined with matching money from FORGE coalition partners, the initiative has now collected about $88.2 million since launching in May to build a radiopharmaceutical manufacturing hub on Moffitt’s 775-acre Speros life sciences research campus in Pasco County. That effort will be broken down into five interconnected projects spanning construction, isotope production, drug manufacturing, startup support and workforce training. 

"Every radiopharmaceutical treatment starts with an isotope, and too much of that supply still depends on sources outside the United States," Josh Carpenter, president of Speros and chief integration officer at Moffitt Cancer Center, says in the release. "This investment positions Florida to take on a challenge that matters to every cancer patient and family in this country. We are building the facilities, the companies and the workforce to make, test, and deliver these therapies right here in Tampa Bay.”

Speros and Moffitt are leading the FORGE coalition, which includes the University of South Florida, Pasco-Hernando State College and Tampa startup incubator and support organization Embarc Collective. 

Once the coalition’s projects are completed, the initiative and associated growth are projected to support approximately 4,000 jobs throughout Tampa Bay, including 1,100 direct jobs at Speros, according to the coalition.

The effort centers on radiopharmaceuticals, which are drugs containing radioactive material. Targeted forms can carry radiation to cancer cells inside the body, offering another way to attack tumors, Moffitt says. A related approach, called theranostics, pairs diagnostic imaging with targeted radiation treatment.

The EDA-funded projects include:

• Drug production: $16.9 million toward the core and shell of a 130,000-square-foot Integrated Theranostics Center at Speros. Plans call for equipment to produce isotopes and manufacture therapies for research, clinical trials and industry partners.
• Space for growing companies: $15 million toward a four-story, 120,000-square-foot Catalyst Convergence Center at Speros, with offices and wet labs for biotech and precision medicine businesses.
• Startup support: $4.3 million for Embarc Collective to staff and operate programming for a 14,000-square-foot wet lab incubator, supporting up to 20 early-stage companies.
• Pharmacy training: $6 million for USF’s CORE Select program, which will provide specialized radiochemistry training for nuclear pharmacists who prepare radiopharmaceuticals for patients.
• Imaging education: $5 million for PHSC’s IMPACT program to expand radiography education and add advanced credentials in CT and mammography.

The investment follows a series of milestones at Moffit’s Speros campus in Land O’ Lakes. Moffitt launched its radiopharmaceutical program in August and celebrated the opening of its Discovery and Innovation Center Oct. 22. That research building includes radiochemistry laboratories and space reserved for the FORGE incubator, which Moffitt expects to open in early 2028.

The coalition says the five projects build on Moffitt’s approximately $600 million investment at Speros, connecting drug development and manufacturing with space for private companies and training for the workers those businesses would need.