Las Vegas skyline [Adobe Stock]
While San Francisco, Boston, and San Diego may reign as biotech royalty, a new contender is carving its niche in the desert. Las Vegas, a city synonymous with entertainment and extravagance, is proving it has the brains and the business acumen to compete on the global biopharmaceutical stage. This transformation is backed by hard numbers: the Nevada bioscience sector boasts 9,413 jobs.
The city is helping drive Nevada’s bioscience sector growth, which experienced a 22% growth surge from 2018 to 2021, far exceeding the national average. Its recent Super Bowl spotlight illuminated more than just football; it revealed a city where world-class researchers, visionary investors, and ambitious startups are fueling a bioscience boom.
Tina Quigley, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LGVEA), emphasized the strategic positioning of Las Vegas in the biotech sphere, stating, “This industry, this vertical in particular, right now is really interesting to us here in our region.”
Quigley shared how the organization strategically positioned the recent Super Bowl to showcase the city’s growing biotech acumen by hosting 16 CEOs, a quarter of which from biotech. “The feedback that we got from them as they came out was, ‘I had no idea.’” Their surprise extended to the city’s resources. “‘Oh my gosh, you have wet lab space,’” Quigly recalled them saying. “‘You have an education system that’s getting prepared to create a pipeline of employees.’’”
Mitch Keenan, vice president of business development at LGVEA, highlighted Las Vegas’s success in attracting a range of life science firms, ranging from bioinformatics to medical device upstarts. “Companies in our region fall into three major and primary buckets in biotech: Biopharmaceuticals, bioapplications, and bioinformatics,” he said.
Companies based in the region include genetic analysis specialist Heligenics, genetic analysis specialist Elekta, and rare disease treatment access firm Optum Frontier Therapies. Additionally, the broader Nevada area is home to a variety of biotech and pharma employers, such as Charles River Laboratories (Reno), JanOne (Las Vegas) and GSK Research (Henderson).
Why Las Vegas’ arid climate offers an oasis for biotech
While Las Vegas’ climate can be polarizing in late summer months, its arid conditions offer unique advantages for the biotech industry. The dryness and heat typical of desert environments are particularly beneficial for the storage and handling of sensitive biopharmaceutical products. For example, products like capsules, gels, and other moisture-sensitive formulations thrive in a low-humidity setting. “Our arid conditions create an environment that has often been overlooked in the past by biotechnology companies,” Keenan said. In traditional biotech hubs, companies may need to invest heavily in climate control and dehumidification systems to create the optimal storage and manufacturing conditions for their products. Las Vegas’s natural climate reduces the need for such investments, making it a cost-effective location for biopharmaceutical operations. Keenan elaborates, “It’s a major cost for them in their development and infrastructure to create the environment that’s already here.”
A sizable cost of living advantage
Like any emerging hub, Las Vegas and Nevada face natural growing pains associated with building a robust biotech ecosystem. Challenges include a still-developing venture capital network and attracting top-tier research talent accustomed to the rich cultural amenities of established biotech centers. Early signs of growth are promising, with more than $103 million in venture capital investments from 2018-2021 fueling the industry. Additionally, Nevada demonstrates a commitment to bioscience research with $2.1 million in academic R&D spending and $115,959 in NIH funding for FY 2021.
Las Vegas also offers a competitive edge with its lower cost of living and a growing tech scene. This favorable startup environment is highlighted by the 2023 study from Crowdfund Capital Advisors, which ranked Las Vegas as the best city in America for pre-IPO startups. “If one takes time to understand the entrepreneurial scene in Las Vegas, they will find all the key elements,” said Sherwood Neiss, principal, Crowdfund Capital Advisors. “This is why Las Vegas has become one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the country,”
While attracting top-tier research talent, accustomed to the renowned research institutions, deep talent pools, and established industry networks of coastal biotech centers like Boston and the Bay Area, may prove challenging for a region still developing its biotech identity, Las Vegas offers a distinct competitive edge in other domains. A 2023 SmartAsset report found that San Jose and Boston offered the highest median wages for college graduates, which often correlates with a higher cost of living. Las Vegas is competitive in that regard based on its lower cost of living and housing opportunity measures. The average cost of living in Las Vegas is substantially lower than in traditional biotech hubs, with a cost of living index of 97.6 compared to San Francisco’s 170.0. In terms of the housing opportunity index, Las Vegas stands at 18.5, indicating substantially more affordable housing options compared to San Francisco’s 7.0, which is one of the least-affordable in the country. “We are a low-cost market in comparison to the coastal hubs that are known as the biotech hubs in Boston, La Jolla, San Francisco, and our business tax structure environment allows for scalability,” Keenan said.
Labs may be the next thing that glitters in Las Vegas
The presence of biotech research institutions in Las Vegas like UNLV (a R1 research university), Touro University, and Roseman University of Health Sciences offers the potential to support the industry’s growth.
While Las Vegas might seem like a blank slate for biotech, looks can be deceiving. The city is actively establishing a foundation for the industry, with initiatives like Roseman University’s 75,000 square feet of wet lab space and their ambitious expansion into a dedicated biotech park. The presidents of the city’s universities “very much want to be a part of attracting this cluster,” Quigley said. This collaborative environment, coupled with the region’s unique arid climate, offers a cost-effective and supportive setting for biopharmaceutical companies. Forget the glitzy facade of the Strip; in these labs, the real spectacle could be the growing biotech opportunities in Las Vegas.