US cities ranked by the size of their biotech industry

Cirrus · #1 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 4:45 PM**

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Ranking:
1. Boston
2. SF Bay
3. Raleigh-Durham
4. San Diego
5. Seattle
6. DC / Suburban Maryland
7. Philadelphia
8. LA / Orange County
9. NY / Westchester County
10. NY / New Jersey
11. NY / NYC
12. Minneapolis
13. Denver
14. Chicago
15. Central & Southern Florida
16. NY / Long Island

10023 · #2 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 5:09 PM**

Looks about right, although I don't see why they split the NY metro into 4 different areas, and I would have expected suburban Maryland to rank ahead of Seattle or San Diego.

Steely Dan · #3 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 5:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10023

although I don't see why they split the NY metro into 4 different areas,

and at the same time southern AND central florida are now apparently a single entity.

what?

Ryanrule · #4 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 5:39 PM**

i can see the nc area fading if they dont kick out their state govt.

cabasse · #5 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 6:23 PM**

surprised to see raleigh/RTP at #3, equally surprised not to see houston

Agent Orange · #6 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 6:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

and at the same time southern AND central florida are now apparently a single entity.

what?

Ha. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Tampa-Orlando is apparently one metro area. Despite the 4+ hour drive between TPA and MIA.

streetscaper · #7 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 6:34 PM**

I think if all the NY's in the ranking were combined (as they very much should be), NY would be number 3 on the list

mhays · #8 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 7:17 PM**

This ranks Seattle higher than most. Sometimes we're more like #10.

Biotech rankings, like tech, can say whatever you want them to say. It's a question of what's included.

Some focus on private sector. That can mean research and development, and sometimes it includes factory production. Sometimes it's diagnostics and therapies, and sometimes medical devices. Others include nonprofits.

That's if it's focus on human biotech. Plant and animal biotech (agriculture) isn another story.

Without reading the story, I'll assume Seattle ranked well because nonprofits/insitutions were included, the private sector was about R&D more than production, and it was about human biotech not agriculture.

C. · #9 Posted **Oct 11, 2016, 7:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

and at the same time southern AND central florida are now apparently a single entity.

what?

initiald · #10 Posted **Oct 12, 2016, 4:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cabasse

surprised to see raleigh/RTP at #3, equally surprised not to see houston

Biotech is one of the big focuses of NC State university in Raleigh. Huge department.

mhays · #11 Posted **Oct 12, 2016, 5:10 AM**

Some say Houston has a large medical industry (this is different from how medicine is heavily clustered in one district) but it's low in NIH dollars (for medical research) and I haven't heard of it having a sizable biotech industry. Though of course it probably tried like ever city did in the 90s.

This is probably about human/medical biotech, not pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, or agricultural biotech...it would score higher in some of those.

10023 · #12 Posted **Oct 12, 2016, 6:36 AM**

If this is a private sector ranking, then I can't think of any biotechs based in Houston. At least not off the top of my head.

And "biotech" can definitely mean pharmaceuticals ("biopharma"), in fact it mostly does, but these are newer (generally large molecule) drugs as opposed to older, genericized drugs of the "white tablet" variety.

It would also depend on what this list is measuring exactly.

JManc · #13 Posted **Oct 12, 2016, 2:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cabasse

surprised to see raleigh/RTP at #3, equally surprised not to see houston

houston is mainly medical research.

maru2501 · #14 Posted **Oct 12, 2016, 3:26 PM**

NC is Taliban-backward at the moment

10023 · #15 Posted **Oct 12, 2016, 4:31 PM**

^ Yep, but there are still a bunch of biotech/pharma companies in Raleigh.

Capsule F · #16 Posted **Oct 12, 2016, 10:40 PM**

This looks more strictly biotech rather than all of the life sciences. Otherwise NJ and Philly among others would be higher.

CaliNative · #17 Posted **Oct 12, 2016, 11:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cirrus

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Ranking:
1. Boston
2. SF Bay
3. Raleigh-Durham
4. San Diego
5. Seattle
6. DC / Suburban Maryland
7. Philadelphia
8. LA / Orange County
9. NY / Westchester County
10. NY / New Jersey
11. NY / NYC
12. Minneapolis
13. Denver
14. Chicago
15. Central & Southern Florida
16. NY / Long Island

I bet SD is #3 now, ahead of Raleigh. You wouldn't believe the concentration of biotechs on Torrey Pines Mesa, near UCSD. Plus the venerable Salk & Scripps Institutes of course.

streetscaper · #18 Posted **Oct 13, 2016, 1:36 AM**

I doubt it's more than all the NY's combined. The big three in this field are really San Fran/Boston/NYC

spoonman · #19 Posted **Oct 13, 2016, 6:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliNative

I bet SD is #3 now, ahead of Raleigh. You wouldn't believe the concentration of biotechs on Torrey Pines Mesa, near UCSD. Plus the venerable Salk & Scripps Institutes of course.

San Diego has been #3 for the past few years (usually Boston #1 and SF #2), but SD dropped from #3 to #4 this year. I suspect the drop will be short lived with the amount of activity and construction of lab space/offices/manufacturing. Boston, SD, and SF have been in the top 3 for a while with Raliegh/Durham close by for a number of years.

It is worth noting that these comparisons are a bit apples and oranges as well. Some places manufacture a lot of pharmaceuticals while others are more focused on research. In these lists specialties are often not recognized and the regions are all lumped in together.

mhays · #20 Posted **Oct 13, 2016, 8:10 PM**

I believe NY is bigger when pharmaceuticals are included. But that's often considered a different cateogory.