A Milken Institute study found Greater Philadelphia passed San Francisco and is closing in on Boston as the nation’s top life sciences region.
While the well-established pharmaceutical industry, entrenched medical research institutions and a growing medical devices sector have helped Greater Philadelphia gain a larger share of the spotlight, there are a number of promising companies that are making it an even more competitive and lucrative location for life sciences success.
Healthy Humans, Hershey’s Apeliotus, Pittsburgh’s ALung, Pinnacle Health, Scranton’s Life Science Analytics, and Horsham’s Verilogue are among those most interesting companies that are innovating the industry’s processes, devices and information.
As healthcare reform promises to be Washington D.C.’s primary focus early in 2010, Pennsylvania is poised not only to play a major role in increasing efficiencies, cutting costs and providing new solutions, but the state is very much a leader in existing and planned initiatives to bolster reform. Danville-based Geisinger Health System and its venture arm, Geisinger Ventures, have gained national attention for its innovation.
Thanks to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, with its planned vaccine center that could create thousands of jobs, and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, with increased investments, in new companies, Western PA is flexing its life sciences muscles.
Other companies are helping establish other parts of the state as fertile life sciences ground, like Unilife in Lewisberry, York County.
Regardless of what healthcare reform might bring, Pennsylvania figures prominently in its implementation in the short-term and for the long haul.
Source: Keystone Edge
Writer: Joe Petrucci