Indiana’s Life Sciences Leadership Reinforced by Billion Dollar Transactions and a $78 Billion Economic Impact

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., March 7, 2018 —  Indiana’s life sciences sector continued to advance as a national leader in 2017.  Over the course of the year, three separate billion-dollar transactions (CoLucid acquisition by Eli Lilly and Co., Catalent acquisition of Cook Pharmica, and Assembly BioSciences’ market capitalization) reinforced Indiana’s leadership position and underscored life sciences activity in the state. In addition, 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 – continues to grow and is now at $78 billion¹ (according to data provided to BioCrossroads by the Indiana Business Research Center at the IU Kelley School of Business).

In 2017, Indiana’s number of life sciences companies increased slightly to 1,689¹ with 55,688¹ employees. And Indiana maintained its strong ranking as the second highest exporter of life sciences products in the U.S.¹ The average wages for the life sciences sector was $94,749¹ per worker, resulting in a life sciences payroll total of $5.3 billion¹ for the state.

Research and discovery at Indiana companies stayed strong with 80 new products gaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to the IBRC.

“The billion-dollar deals are not only big for Indiana but represent major transactions anywhere in the world.   This activity as well as our steady numbers for companies, employees and exports serve as ready confirmation that when it comes to the life sciences industry, Indiana indeed remains a ‘Tier I’ state,” said David L. Johnson, president and CEO of BioCrossroads.

Start-up capital hit a record high in 2017 in both funding amounts and the number of companies receiving investments: $107 million in venture funding fueled the development of 33 life-sciences start-up companies. In addition, Orthopediatrics, an orthopedics company developing products for the pediatric market, went public, one of only two IPOs in Indiana this year with a current market capitalization of $250 million.

Indiana is home to the global headquarters for: Anthem, Inc., Assembly Biosciences, Cook Medical, Eli Lilly and Co., and Zimmer Biomet, and the North American headquarters of Roche Diagnostics; Baxter, Beckman Coulter, Boston Scientific, Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, Covance, DePuy Orthopaedics, Express Scripts, Mead Johnson, 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 supports the region’s existing research and corporate strengths while encouraging new business development and has formed several new nonprofit organizations, including Indiana Health Information Exchange, BioCrossroadsLINX, OrthoWorx, Datalys Center and the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute.

¹ 2016 data from the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC)

This data, generated by the Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and BioCrossroads, the most recent available data (see footnote for specifics).