Biotech And Pharma Industry Locations: Advancing The Limits

Leaps and bounds at life sciences companies have spurred evolution in site selection decisions.

Working with partners such as BioKansas, Kansas offers comprehensive support for wide-ranging, world-class research, commercialization, business start-ups and business expansions. Representing more than 140 Kansas bioscience companies, academic institutions, biotech centers and related organizations, BioKansas facilitates connections with the bioscience community to encourage the attraction, creation, commercialization and growth of bioscience technologies, products and services in Kansas.

Scorpion Biological Services is planning a new biomanufacturing facility in Manhattan to support vaccine development needed for an accelerated, more innovative response to global biological threats. Scorpion’s $650 million business investment will create 500 high-paying jobs over the next seven years.

Merck Animal Health announced a $100 million investment to expand its De Soto vaccine production facility—a prime example of Kansas’ key role in the global animal health and nutrition network, with the state ranked No. 3 in exports of veterinary vaccines.

TriRx, which provides animal health and human health product manufacturing and packaging services, invested $70 million to create 250 new jobs in Shawnee.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is creating 300 new jobs and a $40 million facility in Lenexa. The 120,000-square-foot facility that was designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will target flu and other viruses as well.

KCAS Bioanalytical and Biomarker Services, a fast-growing contract research organization supporting today’s biotech, pharmaceutical, and animal health drug development programs, recently opened a new $28 million facility in Olathe that will add 175 new jobs.

The Kansas Department of Commerce’s projects pipeline includes many more prospects interested in what the state has to offer.


“We are showing time and time again that Kansas has what it takes to attract highly innovative and highly technical businesses to our state, and help those already here flourish.”

— David Toland, Lt. Gov/
Commerce Secretary

“We are showing time and time again that Kansas has what it takes to attract highly innovative and highly technical businesses to our state, and help those already here flourish,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said.

Visit kansascommerce.gov.

Lehigh Valley, PA: Success Stories Abound

The Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania has had no shortage of business development success stories recently.

B. Braun Medical Inc. recently celebrated the completion of a 310,000-square-foot expansion to its manufacturing facility in the Lehigh Valley, a project that will create 200 new jobs over the next few years.

biotech and pharma
Employees at OraSure Technologies in Lehigh Valley, PA working on the production of COVID-19 tests. (Photo: Lehigh Valley EDC)

“B. Braun has had the privilege of being part of the Lehigh Valley community for nearly 40 years,” said Jean-Claude Dubacher, President and CEO of B. Braun Medical. “This facility represents both our commitment to Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania, as well as B. Braun’s strategic objective of being a leading health care technology company.”

Additionally, OraSure Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of point-of-care diagnostic tests and specimen collection devices, just completed a 139,000-square-foot expansion that will allow it to make almost two million in-home COVID-19 tests each week.

“Today’s event celebrates American manufacturing taking place here in the Lehigh Valley, the benefit of which goes beyond what is made and produced, because any place that is manufacturing is by definition innovating,” U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said during the ribbon cutting.

OraSure Technologies was founded in and remains based in Bethlehem, one of the three cities located in the Lehigh Valley, along with Allentown and Easton. Located 90 minutes west of New York City and 60 minutes north of Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley has a population of 688,000 and an annual economic output of $42.9 billion, more than the states of Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming.

The Lehigh Valley is also the home of a thriving life sciences sector that has attracted more than 170 labs, diagnostic and medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and medical distributors. In addition to B. Braun and OraSure, the region is home to such companies as Olympus, Sharp, Thermo Fisher, McKesson, Tyber Medical, and more.

“The Lehigh Valley is right in the middle of the Northeast’s life sciences supercluster, and we have the economic assets that companies in this sector find attractive,” said Don Cunningham, President and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC). “They’re drawn to the Lehigh Valley’s colleges, large health networks, quality of life, talent, and manufacturing and distribution capabilities.”

The Lehigh Valley has two and a half times the concentration of medical device jobs and one and a half times the concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs than the U.S. average, according to Chmura Economics JobsEQ.

Recently named a Top 50 market for manufacturing in the United States, the Lehigh Valley is home to such higher educational institutions as Lehigh University, Lafayette College, and Muhlenberg College, as well the world-class Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke’s University Health Network. The Lehigh Valley also boasts a tremendous talent pool and strong workforce pipeline between the region’s employers and educational institutions. With multiple urban downtown neighborhoods and myriad quality-of-life assets, it’s no wonder the Lehigh Valley led the state in population growth for ages 18 to 34.

Visit www.lehighvalleypaworks.com.

Lexington, KY: Life Sciences Industry Hub

Sitting at the crossroads of two major interstates—I-75 and I-64—and within a day’s drive to over two-thirds of the U.S. population, Lexington is the hub of Kentucky’s life sciences industry. Lexington has leveraged its culture of innovation and commercialization, a superior business climate, top ranked research programs, and an expansive network of medical centers to provide an environment where any market niche of the life sciences industry can grow.

The Core
A $15 million development, called The Core, the University of Kentucky’s Coldstream Research Campus celebrated its grand opening in October 2022. (Photo: Lexington, KY)

A component of the life science industry is biotechnology, one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. Biotechnology is supported by strong ties to academic programs at the University of Kentucky. UK’s College of Pharmacy is one of the nation’s top pharmacy programs, ranked the 6th Best Pharmacy Programs by U.S. News & World Report in 2020. The cutting-edge medical research on disease and drug development performed by the graduate students and faculty has benefited the area and the nation. Graduates enrich the workforce and faculty members have created 25 startup companies since 1989. Furthermore, UK allocates over $400 million to research and development annually and most of UK’s R&D expenditures are devoted to the field of life sciences.

Lexington is home to the only research and development business park in the state—UK’s Coldstream Research Campus. Coldstream, a 735-acre office park, was specifically designed for recruiting high-tech and biotech companies, as well as university centers and start-ups. Coldstream is home to over 50 companies in biotech, pharmaceutical, equine health, and various other industries, and employs over 2,250 employees. Some of Coldstream’s current tenants include the headquarters or regional facilities of Tempur Sealy, Piramal Pharma, Summit Biosciences, OpenText, Komatsu, A&W Restaurants, and Covetrus North America. The campus contains 240 acres yet to be developed and 180 of those acres are development ready land with utilities, roads, redundant electrical power, and high-speed data connections. Additionally, there are 200 acres in the new Legacy Business Park, which sits adjacent to Coldstream. The site is owned by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and was awarded $9.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to help begin infrastructure buildout.

Aside from an established life sciences industry in the local economy and a unique support system that emphasizes innovation, Lexington has numerous attributes to support the life sciences. Lexington’s workforce, strategic geographic location, low cost of doing business, and high quality of life are among the city’s strongest assets. Recent Census data ranks Lexington the 11th most educated city in the nation, with 45% of the population 25 years or older holding at least a bachelor’s degree. Even more impressive, 19.3% have an advanced degree, ranking Lexington 10th for graduate or professional degree attainment.

With one of the most educated workforces in the country, access to top colleges and universities, a strong commitment to research and development at the University of Kentucky, Coldstream Research Campus, and the backing of the Lexington business community, biotechnology continues to thrive in Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region.

Visit locateinlexington.com.

Louisiana: Revolutionizing Pharmaceutical Testing

Two New Orleans companies, AxoSim and Obatala Sciences, are pioneering “organ-on-a-chip” models that mimic technologically what happens inside people at the cellular level. The cost-effective innovation could eliminate or limit animal testing, radically altering how the pharma industry develops new medications while sharply reducing the time and price to bring those drugs to market.

Obatala’s Oba Cell platform is the first commercially available system for engineering 3D adipose tissue—meaning tissue that stores fat. Obatala holds an exclusive license from Harvard University to commercialize fat-on-a-chip models that allow for the testing of weight-loss and cancer-targeting medications.

biotech and pharma
AxoSim, located in the New Orleans Bioinnovation Center, offers research technologies to help tackle neurodegenerative disorders. (Photo: AxoSim)

AxoSim’s NerveSim platform is the first in vitro model that can measure the effects of medication on the human nervous system. AxoSim holds the exclusive license from Johns Hopkins University for BrainSim, which allows testing of medications that treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.

Both firms offer researchers technologies to help tackle troubling, and potentially lucrative, health issues: the mounting neurodegenerative issues of an aging population and the epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The pharma industry is pouring billions into finding cures. The question is: How much of these research markets will AxoSim and Obatala command?

“We’re well-positioned. The fundamentals are in place,” Obatala CEO Trivia Frazier said. “As far as growth goes, we had moved into revenue beyond $1 million in 2019, before the pandemic. … We are looking at doubling and tripling that in 2023 and 2024, and multiples of those figures beyond that.”

AxoSim CEO Lowry Curley said by July 2022, the company was fully booked for the year with client projects, scheduling work for 2023, and had landed several new clients. The results affirmed both pharma’s need for AxoSim’s neurodiscovery drug development platforms and a strategy to focus on early detection of peripheral neuropathy. PN, or nerve damage that often causes weakness, numbness and pain in the hands and feet, re-emerged as a safety obstacle, forcing two pharma companies to halt human testing in the first half of the year.

However, Curley said for AxoSim, the bigger future business opportunity lies with pharma companies working on neuroprotective or neuroregenerative drugs. In addition to safety, AxoSim’s platforms can help researchers with discovery and efficacy. “That’s really where we have an opportunity to work with significant other new customers, early-stage companies where our technology can provide even more of a benefit,” Curley said.

AxoSim was founded in 2014, Obatala in 2017. Both firms emerged from the fertile startup grounds of the New Orleans BioInnovation Center. In the 10 years since its opening, NOBIC has seen more than 225 new companies and 700 high-wage jobs created. Those clients have raised more than $200 million in funding.

Now Obatala and AxoSim are leading the organ-on-a-chip wave sweeping through pharmaceutical research, a wave many believe will eventually erode the reliance on time-consuming and costly animal testing.

Organ-on-a-chip provides human results, something animal testing cannot predict. Only 12 percent of all drugs that pass animal testing ultimately win FDA approval, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Just 6 percent of medications for neurological conditions do.

It takes a lot of time and money to winnow out the failures and find the successes. On average, 10 to 15 years and $1.5 billion are required for a new drug to reach the commercial stage. Before the drug is tested on people, researchers first investigate the medication’s safety and effectiveness in animals. This may require scientists to genetically modify mice to replicate the condition being researched, such as obesity, cancer or other diseases. The genetic modifications may take six months, the trial itself another year.

Frazier said Obatala can establish a tissue model in about three weeks. “In terms of cost savings, it’s substantial,” she said. Curley puts it another way: “We deliver human data, faster.”

Frazier said the speed of discovery is just one of many advantages organ-on-chip systems offer.