Named for Dr. Bartley P. Griffith and Dr. Robert A. Montgomery, pioneers in xenotransplantation, the biosecure facility is purpose-built to manufacture United Therapeutics’ xenokidneys and xenohearts for its rapidly advancing xeno-organ manufacturing program
United Therapeutics Corporation (Nasdaq: UTHR), a public benefit corporation, today announced the opening of its third Designated Pathogen-Free (DPF) facility, The Dr. Bartley P. Griffith and Dr. Robert A. Montgomery Xenograft Production Facility, in Houston, Texas.
United Therapeutics opened its first DPF facility in Christiansburg, Va. in 2024 to produce xenografts for ongoing clinical trials. The company celebrated the opening of its second facility, The Thomas E. Starzl Xenograft Production Facility, in Stewartville, Minn. on August 12, 2026. The two new facilities in Stewartville and Houston are designed to enable United Therapeutics to scale commercial production of its xeno-organs following approval of these products. All three facilities are crucial for advancing the company’s organ manufacturing program.
These facilities are a feat of biotechnology engineering, requiring a strictly controlled, biosecure barrier environment, including air filtration, filtered water, filtered feed supplies, and state-of-the-art decontamination entryways. They include hundreds of miles of carefully calibrated air and water conduits to support the transplantability of the final xenograft products and to help prevent contamination from pathogens. United Therapeutics also installed solar arrays on the remaining land for all three facilities, allowing them to offset a significant portion of their energy use with solar power.