Find Innovation in Unexpected Places in Pennsylvania
Keystone State companies drive industries and the world forward.
Innovation is taking place across Pennsylvania. From developing life-changing health care products and contributing to warfighter readiness to developing vaccines that protect against infectious diseases, companies in the Keystone State are driving industries and the world forward. Ahead, read about three – in unexpected places – that are creating positive change.
TYAD in Monroe County, Pennsylvania
Since 1953, Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) in Coolbaugh Township has been providing unparalleled contributions to warfighter readiness. One of its recent projects aims at keeping troops connected on the battlefield. TYAD just built the first-ever Hardened Transportable Terminal-Modified, or HTT-M. This super-powered communication hub can handle anything thrown its way, from electromagnetic blasts to nuclear threats.
The three-year design, development and manufacturing project represents a major success for Team Tobyhanna, says Jonathan Strzelec, chief of the production engineering directorate’s SATCOM and site installation division.
“Tobyhanna Army Depot has taken on similar projects in the past, but this is the first of its kind for this specific variant,” he says. “We built the entire thing from floor to ceiling in an effort that was kind of like building a house – we even built the kitchen sink, for lack of a better term.”
B. Braun Medical Inc. in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Lehigh County is home to one of the world’s leaders in providing health care products. B. Braun Medical Inc. has operated in the region since 1979 and opened its campus outside of Allentown in 1985. The company expanded there in 2022 with a more than $200 million, 310,000-square-foot addition.
Described as the medical device plant of the future, the expansion nearly doubled B. Braun’s footprint in the Allentown area. It includes state-of-the-art digitalization and automation technologies to improve efficiency and connect all production steps and business processes.
“The investments we are making at our newly expanded Allentown plant are incorporating the latest digitalization and automation technologies to transform the way medical devices are manufactured,” says Patrick Witmer, corporate vice president of corporate affairs and communications. “These investments help ensure that health care providers across the country have the products they need to treat their patients.”
B. Braun is a leader in smart infusion therapy and safe and effective pharmacy products, patient and provider safety, and sustainable health solutions. With products and services created to help health care professionals focus on what matters most – their patients – the company is uniquely positioned to help health systems succeed now and in the future.
“We believe every person should have the opportunity to achieve their full health potential,” Witmer says. “As a leader in infusion therapy and pain management, we are always working to develop new technologies and solutions to help clinicians address the individual characteristics and needs of each patient.”
Witmer says the company is proud to be a part of the Lehigh Valley community for the last 40-plus years.
“In Pennsylvania, we have a strong business climate and a dedicated workforce with a long tradition of innovating to improve patient care,” he says.
Sanofi Pasteur in Monroe County, Pennsylvania
One of Pennsylvania’s most innovative companies is chasing the miracles of science to improve people’s lives.
Sanofi Pasteur in Swiftwater develops vaccines that protect against infectious diseases. A division of Sanofi-Aventis, the company has a proven track record. It was the first worldwide supplier of the injectable polio vaccine and followed that success by being the first supplier of vaccines for influenza, meningitis and rabies. Its portfolio of vaccines today protects a half-billion people globally.
“It’s a unique and exciting time in Sanofi’s history,” says Evan Berlan, Sanofi’s senior director of U.S. media relations. “We’re on our way to becoming an immunology powerhouse by going all in with medicines and vaccines across a range of diseases connected to the immune system: neurology, respiratory, dermatology, gastro-intestinal, among others.”
Sanofi became a launch machine, and the company’s vaccines business – with U.S. research and development and manufacturing operations based in Swiftwater – advanced at a record pace.
“Sanofi has been a leader in vaccines for over 100 years,” Berlan says. “Our history is grounded in life science pioneers who discovered how infectious diseases and vaccines work. We offer an immunization for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and many vaccines, including for influenza, meningococcal meningitis, pertussis, hepatitis, rabies, yellow fever and typhoid fever. Our unwavering commitment to enhancing public health continues to drive us as we relentlessly pursue first-in-class and best-in-class immunization solutions to meet unmet medical needs.”
A new facility on the Swiftwater campus will begin operation in late 2026 and allow Sanofi to expand its production of pandemic flu vaccines using the virus’s genetic instructions instead of an egg- or cell-grown vaccine virus.
This article was sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
