By Allan Maurer
JUPITER, FL—While the life science industry in the Southeast has not yet matured as much as that of the Northeast and the West, it is thriving, says Victor Kleinman, managing director of the global life sciences practice of recruiting firm Nosal Partners. Major new initiatives aimed at boosting state life science industries are underway in Florida, Georgia, Maryland and North Carolina, but the jostling for top spots as biotech hubs “Is still a horserace,” he says.
Kleinman also serves as managing partner for the firm’s Jupiter, Florida, office. He conducts senior-level assignments on behalf of life sciences companies.
Kleinman notes that while the better known and more established biotech hubs are in the Northeast, particularly Massachusetts, and the West, particularly California, “We’re busy in the Southeast. We have lot happening in Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Nashville, Birmingham, and Huntsville,” he says.
Nosal Partners has global clients ranging from giant pharmaceutical companies such as Astra Zeneca to venture capital and private equity firms looking to fill slots in their portfolio companies, with as much as 60 percent of its business coming from the later.
Kleinman, who recently spent time in the Raleigh-Durham area of NC and in Atlanta says, “The Southeast is thriving.”
Florida has vaulted into a top spot as a biotech hub on the heels of state and county incentives.
That lured the California-based Scripps Research Institute to establish its 40,000-square-foot presence in Jupiter on the campus of Florida Atlantic University with $310 million in state and local government incentives.
The Burnham Institute of Medical Research plans a facility in Orlando, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in Port St. Lucie, and SRI International in St. Petersburg, are all contributing to making Florida competitive as a top life sciences hub. However, already, Kleinman suggests, “More money is needed.”
It still has a way to go before the types of spinoff companies and other aspects of a more mature life sciences industry develop, says Kleinman.
They did put muscle in their initiatives to bolters a strong life science industry in the state, however. But already, Kleinman suggests, “More money is needed. It hasn’t reached critical mass yet.”
Maryland’s ambitious plan is also well-funded, and it has other advantages, notes Kleinman, such as the proximity to government labs and large life science companies already selling products, among others.
Georgia also made “a big splash” with its announced life science initiatives, he adds.
But, he points out, “They have to put some brute force and financial horsepower behind their efforts.”
The competition is stiff, not just in the Southeast. “When I started going to the BIO events (the major annual industry trade show) 15 years ago,” says Kleinman, you might have seen a Massachusetts and a California booth. Last year, there were rows and rows and rows of them, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, all these states have climbed on the bandwagon.”
All of the Southeast states have their own strengths and weaknesses as life science hubs, he says. The major players keep jostling for the top few spots after California and Massachusetts. “It’s really a horse race in the Southeast,” he says. “They’re trading the lead and running nose to nose.”
On the Web: www.nosalpartners.com
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