Cambridge, MA – Massachusetts added almost 3,000 net new jobs in the biopharma industry in 2023, accounting for nearly 17% of overall job growth in the state, according to the annual MassBio Industry Snapshot. The report also found $3.26 billion of venture capital funding went to Massachusetts-based companies in the first half of this year, with more than two-thirds of those funds going to companies based outside the biotech hub of Cambridge – in communities like Boston, Waltham, Watertown, and Framingham.
The annual report tracks the state’s life sciences industry’s growth, including employment, industry investment, drug development pipeline, real estate, and regionalization metrics.
“This year’s Industry Snapshot reflects the tremendous resilience of our state’s defining industry,” said MassBio CEO and president, Kendalle Burlin O’Connell. “Whether you look at last year’s job growth or this year’s M&A activity, there is no doubt the industry continues to find ways to keep progressing therapies toward patients. There are opportunities for expansion, especially in biomanufacturing, but industry investment must be paired with state resources for Massachusetts to remain competitive. This report gives us a new baseline and our forthcoming strategic plan a roadmap for another five years of economic and scientific advancement here in the Commonwealth.”
Workforce Development
Even with continued headwinds and widely reported layoffs, the report reveals that Massachusetts added almost 3,000 net new biopharma jobs in 2023, accounting for nearly 17% of job growth throughout the state despite biopharma comprising only 3.7% of the workforce. Meanwhile, the research and development workforce grew by 3.7%, even as the national R&D workforce decreased by 0.5%.
While the rate of biopharma job growth slowed compared to recent years, the Commonwealth did expand as competing states such as California and New Jersey contracted. The state experienced a loss of 2% of the biomanufacturing workforce but at a far slower pace than national trends. Notably, Worcester County bucked the trends with an 11.8% increase in biomanufacturing jobs. The report highlights continued opportunities to expand the state’s biomanufacturing presence, citing growing leadership in advanced modalities, a friendly state policy landscape, and potential federal government resources.
Industry Investment
As a direct result of clinical data and transformative science with measurable results, venture capital (VC) continues to fuel the ecosystem even as biotechs face a less favorable VC funding landscape. In Q1 and Q2 of 2024, ninety-five Massachusetts-based companies announced a total of $3.26 billion in VC funding, constituting 21% of national VC dollars. Partial returns for Q3 show increasingly robust VC investment of $1.43 billion through Aug. 19. The total amount of VC funding in the first half of 2024 was outpaced nationally by only California. Of the state’s VC funding, an unprecedented 65% was invested in companies located outside of Cambridge, speaking to the promising growth and potential of clusters in Waltham, Watertown, Framingham, and others.
In merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, $28.9 billion was spent acquiring 17 Massachusetts companies in the first half of 2024 – nearly triple the dollar amount of last year. Large pharmaceutical companies are using M&A to gain access to the drug pipelines of companies headquartered in Massachusetts while giving local biotechs and investors exits during an ongoing cool market for IPOs.
Drug Development
The industry’s strength and resilience further Massachusetts’ unique positioning to accelerate the innovation that leads to transformative treatments and better patient outcomes around the world. As advanced therapies such as cell and gene therapy thrive alongside a dense biotech ecosystem, the combined drug pipelines of Massachusetts-based companies compete with those of entire nations.
Massachusetts’ drug development pipeline comprises 15.2% of the nation’s pipeline and 6.4% of the global pipeline, up from 14.9% and down from 6.5% respectively. These pipeline numbers only represent companies based in Massachusetts; they do not reflect the multinational pharmaceutical companies with significant R&D operations in Massachusetts but are headquartered in other states or countries. Oncology (35%) leads in the therapeutic areas of the Massachusetts drug development pipeline, with CNS (15%) and anti-infective (9%) rounding out the top three focus areas.
The report precedes the release of MassBio’s 5-year strategic roadmap, which outlines the steps needed for the life sciences industry to support and grow its early-stage biotech community, broaden investment in the ecosystem, future-proof Massachusetts’ talent pool, and advocate for the ecosystem’s needs and priorities.
Read the full 2024 Industry Snapshot at https://www.massbio.org/industry-reports/industry-snapshot/.
