3 Under-the-Radar Biotech Clusters for Life Science Job Seekers
July 6, 2017
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
In the United States, the two biggest biotech hubs are Cambridge, Mass. and the San Francisco Bay Area. Both are close to major universities and research institutions that produce top talent. Both have access to plenty of venture capital. Both have real estate developers that focus on specializing in biotech startups. Both have entrepreneurial mindsets.
South San Francisco has more than 70 biotech companies squeezed into a two-mile square area. Those companies include Genentech , Amgen , and Exelixis just to name a few. And according to a JLL report, there were over 63,158 life science jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2015. This cluster is dubbed BioSpace’s Biotech Bay Hotbed.
Cambridge and Boston are in BioSpace’s Genetown Hotbed. It broadly includes Massachusetts, with big names such as AstraZeneca , Amgen (AMGN), Moderna, Biogen , Sanofi , Merck Research Laboratories and others. According to JLL’s report, there were 82,075 life science jobs in the Boston/Cambridge region in 2015.
It seems somewhat counterintuitive that areas with so many companies and life science PhDs wouldn’t be wildly competitive for jobs. But Arunodoy Sur, writing for the Cheeky Scientist, notes that the toughest competition is where there are few companies and few openings. He also points out that while most major metropolitan areas in the U.S. have biotech and biopharma companies, there are more opportunities for jobs in the bigger clusters.
And in that regard, he notes three large and growing biopharma clusters that are not Boston or San Francisco. Let’s take a look.
1. Philadelphia
Part of the Pharm Country Hotbed, Philadelphia is at the core of a region that includes Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Notable biopharma companies located in the region include Regeneron , Merck and AstraZeneca.
“This region benefits from its proximity to reputable universities such as Penn State, University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Pittsburgh,” Sur says.
One of the big companies well represented in Philadelphia is UK-based AstraZeneca. The company’s three largest centers worldwide are in Cambridge, UK, Gaithersburg, Maryland, the location of MedImmune , and Molndal, Sweden. In 2016, the company brought in $23 billion in revenue, and employed approximately 50,000 people globally. It has several areas of focus, including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, oncology, respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity, as well as infections and vaccines.
AstraZeneca recently provided an overview of its immuno-oncology pipeline at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting held in Chicago. It included MEDI4736, an anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which is also being evaluated in several combination trials, including with tremelimumab, an anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody. This combination is being tested in nine immuno-oncology clinical trials, and is being considered for trials in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), as well as gastric, pancreatic and bladder cancer.
An example of an AstraZeneca job in Philadelphia is Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist – Hospital Cardiovascular. The candidate will be responsible for developing long-term relationships with key interventional cardiologists and accounts.
2. Los Angeles.
Part of the BioSpace Biotech Beach Hotbed, Los Angeles joins San Diego and Southern California. The JLL report indicated that Los Angeles and Orange County, California boasted 117,284 life science jobs in 2015. Companies in the region include Amgen, the Lilly Biotechnology Center, and many others. Sur says, “In spite of this potential, the southern California cluster has not yet developed as much as the two other major biotech locations in the state, San Francisco Bay and San Diego. Currently, the LA metropolitan area is home to over 3,000 life science establishments.”
Puma Biotechnology is an example of a Los Angeles biotech company. Puma focuses on in-licensing innovative drug candidates that are undergoing or have already completed initial clinical testing for various forms of cancer. At the recent ASCO meeting, Puma presented positive results from its ongoing Phase II clinical trial of PB272 (neratinib) to treat HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer that has metastasized to the brain. The trial included three patient cohorts. The first included patients with progressive brain metastases who were given neratinib monotherapy. The second cohort were patients whose brain metastases were amenable to surgery and received neratinib monotherapy prior to and after surgery. The third cohort had two sub-groups, prior lapatinib-treated and no prior lapatinib, who had progressive brain metastases who were given neratinib in combination with the chemotherapeutic agent capecitabine.
An example of a Puma job in Los Angeles is Senior Manager, Quality Control Stability. The candidate will oversee all aspects of quality control in the commercial and clinical trial material. The position calls for a minimum of a bachelor’s of science degree in a scientific field with eight to 10 years of progressive responsibility in a GMP quality control environment.
3. Chicago.
Chicago is part of the BioSpace BioMidwest Hotbed, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin. Chicago is a big center for life science companies, although Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ames, Iowa, and Ann Arbor, Michigan shouldn’t be counted out. There are numerous major universities in Chicago, including the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Sur notes, “This cluster benefits from Chicago’s position as a major economic center and has access to a large educated population. Illinois produces a large number of advanced scientific and engineering degree holders, with about 42,000 awarded annual…. This area has about 30 teaching hospitals and large national laboratories such as Argonne National Laboratories, which significantly contribute to innovation.”
Companies in Chicago include Abbott Laboratories , AbbVie , Shire , and Hospira , now part of Pfizer . The JLL 2016 report indicates there are more than 100 biopharma companies, including 10 corporate headquarters along the suburban North Shore. There are more than 100 companies employing more than 19,000 people, with a total of 53,054 life sciences jobs in 2016.
AbbVie (ABBV), headquartered in Lake Bluff, Illinois, spun off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013. AbbVie is focused on research-based pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. In 2016, AbbVie reported annual revenue of $25.64 billion and approximately 30,000 employees.
On June 7, the company announced positive top-line results from its Phase III trial of upadacitinib (ABT-494), a JAK1-inhibitor in patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis who did not respond to treatment with conventional synthetic DMARDs. The drug met the primary endpoints of ACR20 and low disease activity, as well as all key secondary endpoints, which included ACR50, ACR70 and clinical remission.
An example of a Chicago life science job with AbbVie (ABBV) is for a Clinical Standards Manager I. This individual would be responsible for the overall assessment of compliance, quality control and/or standards related to the execution of clinical trials. It calls for a bachelor’s degree, typically in nursing or another science field, and six or more years of pharma-related clinical research experience, and two or more years of experience in regulatory, compliance or quality control.
Although Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago are growing areas for life science jobs, it’s worth noting they are not the only ones. Sur writes, “Almost all 50 states in the U.S. have now developed a specific division in their state administration, which is dedicated to facilitating the growth of innovative life science companies in the state. Over the next few years, we can expect a few more additions to the list of top life science industry clusters in the U.S.”
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