Southeast’s Life Sciences Scene Heats Up With Job, Business Growth

When it comes to the U.S. life sciences industry, the Southeast region likely isn’t top of mind, as it’s home to just one major market: Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. However, that doesn’t mean the area is lacking in biopharma and medical device activity—or growth.

From 2019 to 2023, bioscience employment and establishments increased in nine states in the Southeast, according to 2024 data from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and TEConomy Partners. Alabama experienced the highest growth in both areas. Bioscience establishments jumped 61.2%, while employment increased 26.3%. West Virginia was the only state to experience a decrease, with a 14.4% drop in employment. Still, its establishments grew 29.7%.

The Southeast is an attractive location for labor and costs, noted Bill Bullock, senior vice president of economic and statewide development at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech), which leads life sciences economic development in North Carolina. For example, Bullock told BioSpace, companies looking for talent in North Carolina can find prospective employees not only at the state’s community colleges and universities but also at businesses such as Amgen, Biogen, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, Merck, Pfizer and Seqirus.

Regarding costs, a 2025 Colliers report noted that the Raleigh-Durham market’s average asking rent is $36.50 per square foot on a triple net lease, assuming a new 10-year lease on a first-generation space. That rent is significantly cheaper than the rate in Boston ($108), New York City ($65 to $200), the San Francisco Bay Area ($84), Seattle ($79) and San Diego ($81).

That said, there are challenges to being a life sciences company in the Southeast. In Kentucky, for example, it can require more work to make venture capital and other key conversations happen, according to Jim Beach, CEO of Bexion Pharmaceuticals. The clinical-stage biopharma, which is developing biologic therapies to treat solid tumor cancers and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, is based in Covington.

“The main thing is just you’re not in that hub,” Beach told BioSpace. “I can’t step across to the pub and bang into three people that are biotech executives. So, I need to make the effort of talking to them via Zoom or at conferences.”

Connecting with key executives is likelier easier in North Carolina. As home to a major life sciences market, the state has an established reputation not only in the Southeast but also in the U.S. Bullock highlighted its standing as a global leader in biopharma manufacturing. According to NCBiotech, the state has 108 biopharma manufacturing sites that employ nearly 34,000 people and produce products including small molecule therapeutics, monoclonal antibodies, industrial enzymes and vaccines.

In addition to manufacturing, Bullock said North Carolina has an innovation ecosystem that’s probably underappreciated. He cited prestigious research universities North Carolina State University, Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as part of that ecosystem. Beach also highlighted the importance of contract research organizations (CROs). Quintiles, now IQVIA, and PPD were founded in North Carolina, where there are over 180 CROs and more than 4,800 open clinical trials, according to NCBiotech.

The way the state’s life sciences scene has grown sets it apart from other industry hot spots, Bullock said.

“What’s different to me here is a purposeful endeavor to build a life science community that looks and feels a little bit different than how Massachusetts built theirs, how California built theirs,” he said. “It’s much more organic in those worlds.”

Bullock pointed to NCBiotech’s role in North Carolina’s life sciences growth. The organization got its start in 1984, when the state’s legislative and executive branches, with encouragement from academic and business leaders, established the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park. The nonprofit became the country’s first state-sponsored biotech development initiative.

“Having the industry grow up with and around the biotech center has created an uber-collaborative and integrated environment here,” Bullock said.

Looking ahead five years, Bullock said he’s “super bullish” on the North Carolina life sciences scene. However, he noted that good policy and continued connectivity between places such as NCBiotech, community colleges, universities, governments and nonprofits will help determine how the industry fares.

“This kind of interdisciplinary approach to solving things going forward, I think communities that do that really, really well will have a big advantage,” Bullock said.

Beach described Kentucky’s life sciences scene, which is less established than North Carolina’s, as “burgeoning.” He noted that it features a large medical device presence with companies including Ethicon, Gravity Diagnostics and Johnson & Johnson as well as CROs such as CTI Clinical Trial & Consulting.

Kentucky is also home to LifeSciKY, a lab incubator in Covington expected to open this summer. The 15,000-square-foot facility will offer lab space and state-of-the-art equipment as well as networking and industry events and even coaching and consulting services. In April, the incubator named Thermo Fisher Scientific as its founding sponsor.

“The people are here, the talent is here and the money is here,” Beach said in describing Kentucky’s life sciences scene. “There’s a lot of things that, really, we have going in our favor.”

From a talent perspective, Beach noted that Bexion has sourced employees in a variety of ways, including from Kentucky’s universities and from other industries. The company also employs people who’ve worked at pharmas such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson and has executives who work remotely. Bexion’s chief medical officer lives in San Francisco, while its chief financial officer resides just outside of Philadelphia.

“We don’t miss a beat,” Beach said regarding the remote-work arrangement with the two executives. “I talk to them every day. They’re in here routinely. We work, and we get it done.”

Bexion also got it done when it came to sourcing capital. Beach noted that the company has raised over $100 million in the region from individuals and institutions.

“The shareholders are amazing,” he said. “They’re very, very supportive. The community is supportive. Everyone’s trying to pull together.”

Regarding funding overall in Kentucky, according to Colliers’ report, bioscience companies raised $456.3 million in cumulative venture capital investments from 2019 through 2023, while bioscience-related academic research and development expenditures totaled $564 million in 2022. The R&D expenditures represented 80% of Kentucky institutions’ total academic R&D spending, placing the state among the top quintile of all states in bioscience-related R&D concentration.

Looking ahead five years, Beach said that as companies such as Bexion continue to succeed, exits happen and capital is recycled, the investment community might take more notice of Kentucky. He noted that VCs might come in and say, “Hey, these would be good LPs to have in this area.”

As he wrapped up his thoughts on the life sciences industry and Kentucky’s place in it, Beach circled back to the talent side of the business.

“There are very few people that are in this—the life sciences business—solely to make a buck,” he said. “We are here because it’s fascinating. I happen to like puzzles, and there’s no bigger puzzle than biology.”

Beach added that it’s easy to go to work when you know that if you’re successful, you’ll make a difference in someone’s life.

“Having that purpose is so important, and that is universal,” he said. “That’s a human trait, and it’s not just located in the big hubs. It might be a little concentrated there right now, but that’s not solely where it resides.”

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