Our experience in the U.S. has been highly encouraging, with strong support from the authorities and efficient approval processes having allowed us to hit the ground running."
— Dr. Andreas Ostrowicki, Managing Director, Beta-Gamma-Service (BGS)
Success Stories - FDI
Pennsylvania's nearly $50 billion life sciences ecosystem continues to grow, and growing alongside it is the demand for sterilization services. A wide range of medical products used in hospitals, doctors' offices, pharmacies, and bioprocessing facilities all typically require some level of sterilization before use to ensure patient safety—and the need is growing, according to company leadership.
“The availability of sterilization capacity poses major challenges for U.S. manufacturers of medical devices, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology products,” said Dr. Andreas Ostrowicki, the managing director of BGS Beta-Gamma-Service GmbH, in a statement to Today's Medical Developments.
The company knew it wanted to expand to the U.S. market, after being a leader in its industry across Europe. Location was a huge factor for company leadership, as they wanted to establish their new facility somewhere with direct, convenient access to other states across the country, where they knew demand was high.
BGS ultimately picked a site in Imperial, PA—just a stone's throw away from the Pittsburgh International Airport, which is currently undergoing a major expansion of its own. The 100,000 square foot facility, opening in 2025, will initially create 20 jobs, and will poise the company for additional growth down the road. Their decision to grow in Pennsylvania is a strategic one that highlights the ongoing success of the region's growing life sciences and technology industries.
“Pittsburgh’s proximity to key markets in the northeast, midwest and south makes it an excellent location for our facility,” said Leonard Zuba, General Manager of BGS US, in a statement to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We are delighted that our initial expansion outside Germany will be in Pittsburgh.”
While the use of chemicals is a common form of sterilization for medical devices, BGS uses a more sustainable technology for the process: a form of beta-ray radiation. The company is also joining an ecosystem where innovation in the nuclear industry is ongoing, with companies like Westinghouse also having a major presence. Pennsylvania is continuing to develop a pipeline of both research and development (R&D) and a skilled workforce, not only for this unique form of technology, but to advance innovations in our life sciences industry as a whole.