BioSpace Launches 2022 Hotbed Maps to Highlight Thriving Life Sciences Clusters
Featuring nine of the most important regions in the life sciences industry, BioSpace’s Hotbed Maps are the guide employees and investors across the sector look to in order to chart its trajectory. The unique, original watercolor artistry of the maps adorns offices around the United States and provides an at-a-glance reference to the industry’s leading innovators and employers.
“Our iconic regional hotbed maps showcase elite companies across the United States,” said Josh Goodwin, CEO of BioSpace. “These multi-channel campaigns are an effective method for companies to elevate their brand to prospective employees, investors, customers and colleagues.”
Shaun Vigeant, senior director, talent acquisition at Intellia Therapeutics, testified to this.
“BioSpace is a respectable news source in our industry and we wanted to increase our brand recognition,” Vigeant said. He added that being on the Genetown Hotbed Map “increases visibility to our ads and page on the BioSpace website, which leads us to believe it has assisted [in] increasing our brand awareness.”
Life sciences professionals can interact with the latest iterations of the maps on BioSpace.
As BioSpace proudly introduces our 2022 Hotbed Maps – complete with the NextGen Bio Hotbed Map highlighting this year’s most promising startups – let’s explore the industry’s most thriving territories, research leading employers and search for relevant jobs on BioSpace.
Biotech Bay
The Biotech Bay Hotbed showcases one of the elite life sciences clusters. Home to industry leaders like Coherus BioSciences, Amgen, AbbVie, Gilead Sciences, Nektar Therapeutics, Metagenomi and Santen, the San Francisco Bay and Northern California region is comprised of cutting-edge science and medicine being practiced by a millennial majority. Upwardly mobile, this hub is one of the most lucrative for life sciences professionals.
This area also provides a built-in network of true innovators from thriving biotech startups like NextGen 2022 companies Graphite Bio and AltruBio. And when the working day is done, Biotech Bay employees can take a relaxing dip in the pacific ocean or enjoy a stroll under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Biotech Beach
The San Diego and Southern California region sparkles with crystal blue waters, celebrities and not a few prominent life sciences players. San Diego, in particular, tops all kinds of Top 10 life science cluster lists. One might stumble across executives from Pfizer, Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Urovant Sciences, Travere Therapeutics, AbbVie, Amgen and Prometheus Biosciences dipping their toes in the luscious beaches or scoping out the latest fashions on Rodeo Drive. The Biotech Beach hotbed is also home to up-and-coming gene therapy company Capsida Biotherapeutics.
Current employees in this region prioritize a bustling innovation and drug pipeline and are heavily invested in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
BioMidwest
America’s “Heartland”, the Midwest boasts land for miles, making it an ideal place to set up manufacturing facilities, while medical schools like the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Washington University in St. Louis attract some of the country’s best STEM talent.
The BioMidwest hotbed highlights biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin. This low-key but hard-working region is home to the Mall of America, the Chicago Cubs and BioSpace!
Toiling the fertile ground in this region are Microbiologics, Inc., AbbVie, Novartis, Strata Oncology and Forge Biologics.
BioCapital
The BioCapital region of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. is about much more than just politics. While known for endless news cycles about how laws get made, many important drugs are made in the BioCapital Hotbed too.
Featuring established players like Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, NexImmune, Emergent BioSolutions, Supernus Pharmaceuticals and Incyte Corp., there is no shortage of therapeutics and vaccines emanating from this region. The BioCapital is also home to one of America’s most renowned medical schools: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Lone Star Bio
Everything is bigger in Texas, including the ambition of the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies located here. Houston and Austin, in particular, are home to some of the top up-and-coming biopharma companies. The Lone Star Bio Hotbed is home to FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, BioBridge Global, Luminex, Veravas and Asuragen.
Oncology is a prime focus, with the presence of the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Add in illustrious academic institutions like Rice University, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Texas A&M University, which offer invaluable networks and collaboration capabilities for life sciences companies.
Genetown
The Boston/Cambridge region enjoys a vaulted status at, or near the top of, nearly every top life sciences cluster list. Genetown’s specialty? Cell and gene therapy. Adorning the Genetown Hotbed map are companies like Intellia Therapeutics, Obsidian, Amgen, Pfizer, AbbVie, Sana Biotechnology, Biogen and Ipsen. This year, BioSpace is excited to highlight GentiBio and Prime Medicine on the 2022 NextGen Bio Hotbed map.
With the cutting-edge research taking place at Harvard University, MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital, who can blame these companies (and myriad others) for settling in Beantown and surrounding area?
Bio NC
The Bio NC Hotbed consists of North Carolina and its storied Research Triangle Park, North America’s largest high technology research and science park. The region is consistently listed among the nation’s top 10 biopharma hubs. Life sciences professionals can choose from more than 730 employers, including Pfizer, Novartis, Precision BioSciences, Seqirus, Humacyte, and Immunovant.
With approximately 11.4 million square feet of lab space and a “company town” feel (more than 66,000 people are employed in the sector), the Tar Heel state has a lot to offer.
Pharm Country
The iconic skylines, skyscrapers and streets of the northeast are filled with large biopharma and medical device companies whose missions, as the saying goes, never sleep. The Pharm Country Hotbed consists of life sciences companies in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Consistently ranked among the top 5 U.S. life sciences clusters, the region attracts a high volume of venture capital dollars. This is not surprising given that its many financial institutions need only look outside to see innovators like Regeneron, Alexion, Pfizer, Amgen, AbbVie, Daiichi Sankyo and CSL Behring.
BioForest
The peaceful states that make up the northwestern corner of the United States might not make a lot of noise, but they do house a thriving life sciences industry. The BioForest Hotbed is comprised of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies in Oregon and Washington.
Life Sciences companies calling this region home include Lundbeck, Sana Biotechnology, Sparrow Pharmaceuticals and 2022 NextGen representatives Visus Therapeutics and Umoja Biopharma. It’s also not surprising to see biotech companies like Kineta and CytoDyn cementing Seattle’s reputation as a technology hub.