Biotechnology in North Carolina

North Carolina has a strong corporate support infrastructure and a talented workforce, trained by well-equipped academic institutions. Many biotechnology companies have brought enough facilities and niche competitors into the state to the point where it is now possible to have a product pass from inception to manufacturing to distribution, all within North Carolina. Much more than just an isolated industry, biotechnology is particularly useful when applied in conjunction with other tools such as agriculture or forensics. North Carolina is well situated for such inter-disciplinary development, as provided by projects such as the Research Triangle Park (RTP).

In 2005, more than 1,400 biotechnology companies existed in the United States, with North Carolina being home to just under 6% (81) of these biotechnology firms.1 The state is ranked among the five largest biotechnology industry centers in North America, with firms engaging in research and development, product development, clinical trials, pharmaceutical manufacturing and sales, bio-manufacturing, and health care applications. Many of the world's largest biotechnology and pharmaceutical facilities are located in North Carolina, including facilities belonging to industry leaders GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co. The state is also home to firms like Bayer, with the world's largest plasma-based factory; Wyeth, with the largest vaccine facility; Baxter, with the largest intravenous solutions facility; and Biogen Idec, with the largest manufacturing biologics facility. North Carolina's reputation as home to a significant and growing biotechnology industry is therefore well deserved.

North Carolina: 6% of US Biotech Sales

The U.S. contained 1,415 biotechnology companies in the United States, with total revenues of $50.7 billion as of 2005. Of these companies, 329 were publicly held, with a total market capitalization of $410 billion.2 North Carolina's industry generates some $3 billion in annual revenue, and is growing at a rate between 10% and 15% annually. Strategic developers aim to build a biotechnology workforce numbering nearly 50,000 in a $7.7 billion market by 2013, and a 125,000-strong workforce in a $24 billion industry by 2023. The nation's sales are similarly expected to double to $66 billion by 2013. For comparison, the global biotechnology sector generates some $40 billion in sales and is expected to grow to a $120 billion market in the next decade.3

North Carolina: 7% of U.S. Biotech Employees

In 2005, more than 1.2 million people were worked in for biotechnology and life sciences firms in the United States.4 Nationwide, 272,865 were employed in biotechnology manufacturing, with the majority of these (82.6%) employed in pharmaceutical manufacturing. An additional 816,087 were employed in biotechnology research activities.5 North Carolina companies alone employed 48,080 biotechnology workers Of these workers, the biotechnology manufacturing industry employed 19,080 of the state's manufacturing workforce. Contract research organizations (CROs) and laboratory testing companies contribute an additional 22,878 jobs. It is estimated that for each job created in the biotechnology sector in North Carolina, 2.9 additional jobs are created in order to support the biotechnologist's position and the company as it expands or builds new plants (drawing support from service sectors such as "architecture, construction, engineering, instrumentation and validation" among other industries).6 Afterwards, the support of workers in fields such as "housing, transportation, retail, utilities and entertainment" is required to sustain the lifestyle of employees.7 Industry groups state that the 1.2 million jobs in the biotechnology and life science sectors support an additional 5.8 million jobs.8

R&D in North Carolina

North Carolina's unique concentration of R&D resources will support future growth. With nine research universities, five outstanding medical schools and one of the largest campuses of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the state is poised to provide a competent workforce as well as a highly concentrated research community as the biotech industry continues to grow. North Carolina has the world's greatest concentration of CROs and testing companies, and hosts operations from more than 80 CROs employing over 15,000 people. CROs are companies contracted by biotechnology manufacturers to design and run clinical trials. Four of the world's largest CROs and testing companies (LabCorp, Quintiles Transnational, PPD and AAI) are headquartered in the state.

Increased concern over the occurrence of global pandemics, a greater awareness of the threat of bio-terrorism as well as the rapidly aging baby-boomer generation in the United States and other affluent countries (like those in Europe and Asia) are some of the key drivers of growth in the biotechnology industry. In 2004. the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $232 million in contracts to fund the development of new vaccines against the three potential bioterrorism agents of smallpox, plague and tularemia, with tangible benefits to North Carolina.9 In July 2007, AlphaVax Inc., a biotechnology firm based in RTP, received a $3.6 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases to develop a new vaccine technology.

Source: http://www.soc.duke.edu/NC_GlobalEconomy/biotechnology/overview.shtml