INDIANAPOLIS (March 24, 2020) — Indiana’s life sciences industry keeps evolving, expanding, and making new discoveries. In 2019, companies made acquisitions and invested in their local operations; new organizations opened facilities in Indiana, bringing innovation and hundreds of new jobs to the landscape; and start-ups received venture funding to move their products forward. The result is a vibrant and growing Indiana life sciences sector.

The sector showed notable growth in several areas as it continues to compete with coastal hubs in the size of its workforce, number of companies and productivity. Now 2,1571 companies and 56,5751 people strong (increases over previous years), the state continues to rank as one of the five most concentrated life sciences states in the United States. For the ninth straight year, Indiana is ranked as the second highest exporter of life sciences products in the U.S with more than $10.5 billion2 in exports, according to data provided to BioCrossroads by the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

The average wage for the life sciences sector has increased to $102,3701 per worker, up nearly $5,000 over last year, resulting in a life sciences total payroll of $5.8 billion1 for the state.

“Indiana’s life sciences industry is a critical component of the state’s economy, and the sector contributes to public health in meaningful ways, particularly in these times of uncertainty,” said Patty Martin, president and CEO, BioCrossroads. “Our key indicators show a thriving life sciences industry with innovations and collaborations that have global impact.”

The economic impact of the state’s life sciences industry – comprised of pharmaceutical, medical device and equipment, agbiosciences, research, testing and medical laboratories and biologistics — reached $77 billion1 while capital expenditure commitments by life sciences companies were more than $800 million2 for 2019. 712 new products gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to the IBRC.

In the entrepreneurial ecosystem, a record 372 companies received $177 million2,3 in venture capital funding, including Sexton Biotechnologies, MBX and Gate Neuroscience.

Indiana’s research universities, start-ups and companies had several notable developments throughout 2019, including:

  • Indiana University School of Medicine and Purdue University received $36 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to launch a drug discovery center to accelerate the development of an Alzheimer’s disease treatment;
  • The University of Notre Dame received a $33 million grant from the World Health Organization for malaria research;
  • Millions of dollars of investments in artificial intelligence and advanced analytics programs and facilities were committed to Indiana’s three research universities;
  • Elanco launched the $7.6 billion acquisition of Bayer Animal Health;
  • Eli Lilly and Company acquired Loxo Oncology for $8 billion; invested $400 million in its manufacturing facilities in Indianapolis; and committed to 100 new jobs;
  • Abbott Vascular is establishing operations in Westfield with 450 jobs;
  • LifeNet Health committed an additional 100 jobs; Covance Central Labs committed 200 new positions; and
  • Catalent announced they are increasing their headcount by 200 employees and investing $100 million in their Bloomington facility.

Indiana is home to the global headquarters for: Anthem, Inc., Cook Medical, Elanco, Eli Lilly and Company and Zimmer Biomet, and is the North American headquarters of Roche Diagnostics. Baxter, Beckman Coulter, Boston Scientific, Corteva Agriscience, Covance, DePuy Orthopaedics, Express Scripts, Mead Johnson/ Reckitt Benckiser, and Medtronic all host major operations in the state.

About BioCrossroads

BioCrossroads (www.biocrossroads.com) is Indiana’s initiative to grow the life sciences, a public-private collaboration that supports the region’s research and corporate strengths while encouraging new business development.   BioCrossroads provides money and support to life sciences businesses, launches new life sciences enterprises, expands collaboration and partnerships among Indiana’s life science institutions, expands science education and markets Indiana’s life sciences industry.  The initiative has formed several new nonprofit organizations, including Indiana Health Information Exchange, BioCrossroadsLINX, OrthoWorx, Datalys Center and the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute.

1 2018 data from the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC)

2 As of 12/31/2019

3 Includes Inari Agriculture’s $89 million venture capital round. Inari was founded in Cambridge, MA, and has a majority of its current operations in Indiana.

This data, generated by the Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and BioCrossroads, are the most recent available.