Delaware is on the Frontlines of the Fight Against Disease

The biosciences climate in Delaware is robust and making a significant difference in finding cures for the most aggressive diseases and conditions. Eighty percent of the U.S. pharmaceuticals industry is headquartered in the First State and the surrounding states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to Delaware Prosperity Partnership. Global bioscience giants with significant operations in Delaware include Agilent Technologies, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics and W.L. Gore.

Meanwhile, Delaware’s universities are producing young scientists eager to join the fight. But they are also promoting science to elementary, middle and high school students, so that the future will be filled with strong, innovative minds.

“We’re trying to inspire people to see what it means to be a researcher,” says John Koh, interim director of the University of Delaware’s Biotechnology Institute.

While that happens, companies are sprouting and expanding with the goal of making discoveries that have the ability to help the human body fight off even the most virulent foes. And they are settling in Delaware, taking advantage of incubators and innovation spaces designed to promote high-level research and product development.

Just take ACROBiosystems, which has offices in Newark and at the Delaware Innovation Space. The company creates recombinant proteins that play a crucial role in pharmaceutical product development.

Incyte, a Wilmington-based pharmaceutical research company, has been helping patients fight bone cancers and marrow disorders for years, and is also moving into the rheumatoid arthritis space. “A few years ago, we made the commitment to be in Delaware and to house our headquarters here,” says Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer Reid Huber. “It’s important for our base and important for the state.”

And even more is set to come.

1. Biotech firms are expanding and providing excellent opportunities for workers throughout Delaware while helping to develop solutions to medical conditions of all sorts. More than 8,000 Delawareans are employed in bioscience, with an average annual salary of $120,000.
Source: Delaware Bioscience Association

2. The state of Delaware has helped bioscience companies grow with direct investments, grants and R&D and angel investor tax credits. Incubators are sprouting up throughout the state that house startups and help spawn the critical mass necessary for increased discovery.
Source: Biotechnology Innovation Organization

3. Expect future research to reflect the growing trend among bioscience companies to target the consumer with therapies tailored to personalized needs. Drugs now focus on stimulating the body’s immune system to fight cancer and other formidable foes, rather than tearing down everything – good and bad – and hoping for a positive outcome. Doing this requires employees with specialized training, and universities in the state are focusing on attracting, retaining and training tomorrow’s bioscientists, who will continue to make significant breakthroughs.

4. Eighty percent of the U.S. pharmaceuticals industry is headquartered in Delaware and the surrounding region, benefiting from an infrastructure that allows companies to collaborate with research and medical institutions to develop innovative drugs, diagnostics and medical devices.
Source: Delaware Prosperity Partnership

5. The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) connects Delaware’s bioscience industry with more than 140 industry, academic, nonprofit and government partners throughout the country.

Source: NIIMBL