A MassBio report of the life sciences industry reveals that Massachusetts’ increased research and development workforce and venture capital funding underscore the state’s vitality in America’s biopharma work.
The business group’s 2023 Industry Snapshot was highlighted by the 114,000 employees within Massachusetts’ biopharma sector. Biopharma employment has rapidly rose in the Bay State, since 2018 after staying moderately consistent in prior years.
For instance, a total of 74,256 individuals were employed in Massachusetts’ biopharma sector in 2018, nearly 40,000 fewer than in 2023. Previous to that recent jump, it took 16 years for the Bay State to add 40,000 jobs to the industry, from 2002-2018, according to the report.
Takeda, Sanofi and Moderna are listed as the state’s top three biopharma companies, with a collective employment of more than 15,000, according to the report. Vertex, Pfizer, Novartis, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, AbbVie, AstraZeneca/Alexion, Alnylam and Foundation Medicine all have more than 1,000 employees, according to the report.
The state’s 8.5% increase in employment in the research and development sector since 2022 was more than in competitor states such as California and Pennsylvania. Both states saw a 6.8% increase this year.
Employment in Massachusetts’ biomanufacturing sector increased by 6.3% since 2022, more than New Jersey, 5.8%, and Maryland, 4.6%, according to the report. Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, CEO and President of MassBio said biopharma job openings have increased every month since March.
“We never like to see company closures or layoffs, but we also know the nature of our industry is one of the big risks for researchers, founders, and investors, and big rewards for patients with unmet medical needs around the world,” O’Connell said in a letter included in the industry report.
Gov. Maura Healey, in a statement, said her administration will remain committed to partnering with the biopharma industry to stimulate job growth and cutting-edge discoveries.
“We are the home of life-changing innovation because we have recognized the unique opportunity to harness the incredible talents and resources that we have here, and back them with real investments,” she said.
More than $3.7 billion in venture capital funding has been hauled in by the state’s biopharma companies in the first half of 2023, a number that, while not on track to compete with the pandemic-inflated years of 2020-2022, is ahead of funding seen in 2019 and years prior. Venture capital investments in Massachusetts increased from $1.9 billion in 2013 to $4.7 billion in 2019. Those figures increased drastically due to the coronavirus pandemic, jumping to $8 billion in 2020, $13.6 billion in 2021 and $8.7 billion in 2022, according to the report.
The state’s biopharma industry received 32% of all the venture capital funding in the United States last year, only second to California’s 36%, according to the report. The increased funding proportion was a 26% jump from 2021.
Companies in Cambridge received 55% of Massachusetts’ venture capital funding during the first half of 2023, with more than $1.7 billion in funding to area businesses. Boston-based companies received 25% of the venture capital funds and Waltham companies received 19%, according to the report.
Massachusetts also received $3.3 billion, 9%, of all National Institutes of Health Funding in 2022, despite making up 2% of the nation’s population. The $470 funding per capita, according to the report, was significantly higher than New York and California, both states that received higher National Institutes of Health funding last year.
“There are few, if any, places on the planet that rival Massachusetts for the density of discovery research, rapid translation and patient care,” Mass General Brigham CIO Christopher Coburn said in a statement. “We understand that power in new ways since the pandemic.”
State hospitals also received more than half of the National Institutes of Health funding in 2022, though it was a slight decrease from the 54% in 2021. Higher education and research institutes throughout the state received nearly $1.5 billion in national funding in 2022, an increase of more than 3% from 2021, according to the report.
