Largest U.S. Life Sciences Hub Fights For A Piece Of Multibillion-Dollar Biomanufacturing Pie

Massachusetts has long led the pack in the research and development sector of the life sciences industry, but with billions of dollars now flooding into the biomanufacturing sector, the state may be forced to take a back seat.

Big Pharma companies in the U.S. have announced roughly $158B in new investment this year, mostly for drug manufacturing, and Massachusetts and its competitors have been working hard to woo them.

While these companies are still early in pinpointing where to invest in big biomanufacturing plants, early reports have emerged about projects in Texas and Ohio, while no major projects have been announced in Massachusetts.

"Unfortunately, right now, there is not a significant amount of demand for biomanufacturing in the market," said Berkeley Investments Director of Asset Management Dan McGrath, a developer who has been working to lease a biomanufacturing project in the Boston suburbs.

"I think Massachusetts does have a lot of challenges."

In recent years, the state has spent millions of dollars to boost the biomanufacturing sector — both in the Boston area and in central Massachusetts. The Healey administration has pushed tax incentives and biomanufacturing job programs to attract companies in an effort to diversify the state's life sciences economy and sharpen its competitive edge.

The state is home to the largest life sciences cluster in the U.S., but the Big Pharma companies appear to be drawn to the lower costs and ample power and space that exist in other parts of the country. One of the state's biggest competitors has been Raleigh, North Carolina, which has benefited from a growing workforce, local research universities and cheaper land.

Massachusetts life sciences advocates told Bisnow they don’t expect the state to lead the country in securing these new biomanufacturing projects from Big Pharma companies, but the presence of R&D facilities and the associated talent pool should help the state land some new investments.

"Massachusetts isn't going to win everything," MassBio Head of External Affairs Ben Bradford said. "I think we are putting our hat in the ring for everything, and companies are at least having the conversation with Massachusetts."

In 2023, the Healey-Driscoll administration awarded $30.5M in funding to support the life sciences sector, including Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives Pilot Biomanufacturing Center. The state has also invested $3.5M in the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a quasi-public agency under the state's Executive Office of Economic Development, to build 10 new biomanufacturing labs.

MLSC CEO Dr. Kirk Taylor said the agency has worked closely with the governor to boost the state's biomanufacturing competitiveness.

"Specifically, we are hyper-focused on Massachusetts’s competitiveness in biomanufacturing based on our world class talent pool, proximity to your existing research hub, and our statewide effort to expand this sector across the Commonwealth," Taylor wrote in a statement to Bisnow.

"Our future efforts to remain #1 in the life sciences are directly tied to our ability to collaborate with and support world leaders on the cutting edge of the next generation of manufacturing."

In February 2024, the state invested $800K in the Mansfield Bio-Incubator, which would allow it to buy new equipment to boost biomanufacturing in the region.

“Biomanufacturing has the potential to make Massachusetts more sustainable while at the same time meeting our production needs, workforce demands and business development goals,” Gov. Maura Healey said of the investment in a statement released at the time.

Despite the state's push, some developers that have planned biomanufacturing projects have struggled to find tenants. 

Boston-based Berkeley Investments received approval in 2022, at the height of the life sciences boom, to build a 203K SF biomanufacturing facility on a 23-acre site at 161 Concord Road in Billerica. However, as the market began to slow and companies became more strict on leasing, the company decided to hold off on development until it had a tenant.

Berkeley's McGrath said the company is pivoting space once intended for biomanufacturing to other tenants in the emerging green tech and tough tech sectors.

"There's a very diverse pool and growing pool of advanced manufacturing companies north of Boston," McGrath said. "The building that we have can accommodate a variety of different types of manufacturers, not just biomanufacturing."

King Street Properties in 2020 began acquiring land in Devens, 43 miles northwest of Boston, with plans to build a 750K SF biomanufacturing campus. It has already delivered 400K SF of development on the 45-acre site, but as the life sciences sector slowed, it pivoted to other sectors like electric vehicle battery manufacturing.

Worcester and the central Massachusetts area offer an attractive market for manufacturers that want proximity to Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives CEO Jon Weaver said.

The state's second-largest city, Worcester is the fastest-growing city in New England. And Worcester County is the 15th-largest life sciences hub in the country, expanding nearly 12% in 2024, according to MassBio.

"Central Massachusetts, in particular, has really been focused on securing that market for the region," Weaver said. "We realized we have all the ingredients that are required to do this."

While Big Pharma companies look for large sites with hundreds of acres to build commercial manufacturing plants for mass production, Massachusetts may be better positioned to benefit from smaller types of biomanufacturing facilities. The demand that the state has received — and can capture more of — tends to be for preclinical and clinical-stage manufacturing facilities that benefit from being close to a company’s R&D facilities, MassBio's Bradford said. 

He said the state could capitalize on smaller preclinical and clinical-stage manufacturing because being close to a company’s R&D facility is more crucial at that stage than with commercial manufacturing.

"Being able to drive from Cambridge or Watertown or Boston to Lexington or Worcester to meet with your manufacturer makes a whole lot more sense than having to hop on a plane," Bradford said.

Cushman & Wakefield Executive Vice Chair Connor Barnes said early-stage companies flush with cash three to four years ago were developing smaller biomanufacturing facilities for their own uses.

"We haven't seen nearly as much as any of that now, just because of how expensive it is to build these facilities," Barnes said.

Barnes said that the types of facilities Big Pharma is looking to build for commercial drug manufacturing are closer to 1M SF plots of land. These major companies are looking nationally for the best deals rather than proximity to strong clusters like in Kendall Square.

"Where’s the best place for us to build because of the cost and availability to labor?" Barnes said, describing their thought process. "Who’s going to give us the most and best incentives?"

Pfizer opened a $200M clinical manufacturing facility in Andover in 2019, which became home to more than 3M SF of life sciences space.

Recent biomanufacturing investments in the state also include Bristol Myers Squibb's 244K SF cell therapy manufacturing facility, which expanded in 2023 after being in the area for more than a decade. Bio-Techne, a therapeutic manufacturer, added a 27K SF addition to its manufacturing hub at 7 Jackson Road in Devens in 2021.

As biomanufacturing becomes a larger part of the U.S. industrial footprint in the coming years, MBI’s Weaver said Massachusetts has a "great opportunity" to bring that market to the state.

"Massachusetts is the epicenter of the R&D world," Weaver said. "It is just the heart of the research ecosystem worldwide, but we've been roughly in the top 10 when it comes to manufacturing. … We want to try to become the best location in the world for biotech and biomanufacturing across the board."