U.S. Specialty Formulations is expanding its space at the Ben Franklin TechVentures business incubator in Bethlehem.

A pharmaceutical company based in a Bethlehem business incubator is growing and adding new staff members.

U.S. Specialty Formulations (USSF), a specialty compound manufacturer for sterile injectable pharmaceuticals, is expanding its space at Ben Franklin TechVentures, and adding three new high-skill positions to its team.

The company provides aseptic manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, as well as aseptic processing and production of injectable clinical trial materials, with a focus on specialty sterile injectable drugs for both humans and animals.

“Our products respond to a clear need in the marketplace for safe medications,” said Kyle Flanigan, CEO of USSF. “Starting in Ben Franklin TechVentures provides us with business resources, wet lab availability, and supporting infrastructure. These are key in starting up a technical enterprise.”

USSF is an outsourcing facility that complies with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2014 Drug Supply Chain Security Act standards. USSF offers several types of specialty formulations, including compounding, pre-clinical trials, clinical, and research and development.

US Specialty Formulations started with two employees in 600 square feet at Ben Franklin TechVentures in 2014 and now employs 11 in 2,388 square feet.

In addition to providing space, Ben Franklin TechVentures has invested a total of $157,000 in the company, according to BFTP/NEP spokeswoman Laura Eppler.

Located on Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus, the incubator is owned and managed by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP), which has helped start 511 new companies since the program began operations 1983.

BFTP/NEP creates and retains highly paid, sustainable jobs by investing in and linking companies with experts, universities, follow-on funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation.

Since 2007, BFTP/NEP clients have generated $1.5 billion in follow-on funding, Eppler said. The Pennsylvania Ben Franklin Technology Partners network has returned $3.60 to the state treasury for every $1.00 invested in the program.

Since beginning operations, BFTP/NEP has helped to create 18,056 new jobs for Pennsylvania workers, retain 31,840 existing jobs, and develop 1,733 new products and processes, according to the organization.

Ben Franklin TechVentures specifically housed 41 firms and employed as many as 170 people in 2017 alone. The business incubator program has won the International Business Innovation Association Incubator of the Year Award on two separate occasions.

Ben Franklin TechVentures also added a new West Wing expansion last year, its third expansion since the incubator opened 12 years ago. The 20,000 square-foot expansion brought incubator’s total size to 129,000 square-feet.