With a series of key brand-name drug patents set to expire in 2013, life sciences companies are bracing themselves for a revenue drop some estimate could reach $30 billion. One industry response to the cliff is the geographic reshuffling and right-sizing of the North American life sciences industry occurring in comparatively smaller metropolitan areas as these cities rise in industry influence, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) reported today.
JLL’s annual 2012 Life Sciences Cluster Report chronicles this shift in a ranking of industry clusters-areas in which life sciences intellectual capital, funding and facilities are concentrated. Cities that are rising in influence offer a workforce, academic community and public sector focused on R&D productivity and areas of opportunity within the sector, such as biologic biosimilar drug research and production.
As in 2011, the Greater Boston area topped JLL’s top 10 market ranking for the life sciences industry in 2012, followed by San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, Raleigh-Durham, Philadelphia, the Washington, D.C.-metro area, New Jersey and New York City, Los Angeles and Orange County, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Seattle.
In addition to the top 10 market ranking, the report identifies and ranks a total of 21 U.S. cities according to weighted scores for total employment in high-tech research and hospital/medical fields; life science establishments; National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding; and venture capital funding. New emerging clusters added to the 21-city ranking in 2012 include: Westchester/New Haven, Ohio, Salt Lake City, Dallas/Fort Worth, Wisconsin and Michigan.
"Access to world-class research institutions, facilities and intellectual capital are priorities for R&D-focused organizations," Bill Barrett, JLL executive managing director of life sciences, said in a statement. "Proximity to these resources continues to command a premium in terms of rents and facilities investments."
JLL identified three key factors that have helped both established and emerging clusters: middle-market growth, the need for access to innovation and the offering of economic incentive packages to fuel life sciences sector expansion.
