Like most leading voices in Rhode Island’s emerging life sciences sector, Neil D. Steinberg doesn’t try to deceive himself on Rhode Island’s standing in the regional biotechnology sphere.
“Cambridge-Boston won the Olympics,” said the newly appointed chair of the R.I. Life Sciences Hub. “We’re trying to qualify.”
Indeed, Providence isn’t even on the New England podium – second- and third-place honors would go to Worcester, Mass., and Mansfield, Mass., which have seen their own biotech booms in recent years. The Ocean State and its capital, meanwhile, still have a way to go from the starting line.
Steinberg spoke at Providence Business News’ 2024 Emerging Industries Summit on March 13 at the Providence Marriott, where he joined a panel of life sciences and biotech leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the nascent industry in the Ocean State. A previous panel focused on Rhode Island’s blue economy.
In a testament to the still-nebulous state of Ocean State biotech, panelist Justin Fallon, a professor of neuroscience, psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, said that although he launched his own biotech company, Bolden Therapeutics Inc., in Rhode Island, his lab work takes place in the Boston area.
It’s not Fallon’s preference. It’s a significant commute, given that he still calls Rhode Island home. But with limited lab spaces available in the Ocean State, Fallon said, he had little choice when establishing the startup, which is working to develop new treatments for central nervous system diseases.
“It’s awkward, being here in Providence and having a laboratory in Cambridge,” Fallon said. “I’d much rather be here.”
While a Rhode Island lab space has yet to materialize for Bolden – and other obstacles also remain – entrepreneurs and industry observers such as Fallon and Steinberg are optimistic that a recent push from the state level will provide the local life sciences industry with a shot in the arm. Last year, legislators announced a $45 million effort to establish Rhode Island as a hub for the life sciences.
In addition to Fallon and Steinberg, the biotech/life sciences panel included Dr. Gaurav Choudhary, medical director of Lifespan Corp.’s Cardiovascular Institute clinical trials office; and Carol Malysz, executive director of RI Bio.
As Fallon’s experience illustrates, one obstacle facing Ocean State biotech innovators is a lack of available lab space – a type of real estate that’s recently been experiencing a decline in demand in established tech hubs such as Boston and Cambridge.
But Rhode Island’s sphere is so new that the state is experiencing the opposite problem, as Malysz and Steinberg have previously told PBN. While life sciences entrepreneurs are interested in a Rhode Island headquarters, they say, these entrepreneurs often can’t find a location that supports the needed lab infrastructure.
Still, Rhode Island has some factors already working in its favor – the presence of research institutions such as Brown University and the University of Rhode Island, for instance, which have both expressed enthusiasm for bolstering the state’s biotech sector and work closely with Rhode Island’s major health care systems.
Rhode Island’s life sciences industry has also seen “strong growth” since 2018, Malysz said, with a 25% employment increase since then.
According to RI Bio data, the Rhode Island life sciences sector now has 5,773 jobs and 666 establishments. Additionally, Malysz said, employees in this sector earn an average salary of $95,000 – about 45% more than the state’s average salary across industries.
Under the broader life sciences umbrella, Rhode Island also hosts “a strong medical and device industry,” Malysz said, and “a great-selling gene therapy sector.”
And there are still plenty of vacant positions that Rhode Island needs to fill in its life sciences sector, Choudhary said, highlighting a need to provide core resources and services that will incentivize more biotech workers to move to the Ocean State.
“Once they come here, they’re not going to leave because that’s Rhode Island,” Choudhary said. “We have a wonderful state, and there are so many opportunities here. This is a small laboratory where we have a million people all connected ... doing some great work.”
Despite the challenges Bolden has faced with the lack of lab space, Fallon also sees “enormous opportunity” for biotech in Rhode Island.
“We have the key ingredients, which are the idea generation [and] a workforce,” he said, “which is remarkably good.”
And biotech itself presents immense, attractive opportunities for entrepreneurs, Fallon added, noting that his own field, neuroscience, is “really grappling with these problems that affect all of us,” such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and strokes.
Researchers now have the tools to “identify the levers and buttons we can manipulate to really make an impact on these diseases,” Fallon continued.
While the $45 million funding commitment from the state provides a start for the emerging life sciences industry, panelists noted that this move alone won’t be enough to spark a biotech boom in the Ocean State.
And in a way, the infusion is another example of how Rhode Island’s biotech resource base pales in comparison to its neighboring state. In Massachusetts, Gov. Maura T. Healey recently proposed a $1 billion investment into the state’s life sciences sector over the next decade.
While Rhode Island can’t realistically make such a massive commitment at this time, Steinberg said, state leaders can set the foundations for the life sciences as a long-term priority.
And while Providence often takes center stage in life sciences discussions, “to make it successful, it’s got to be a statewide effort,” Steinberg said, extending well beyond the Jewelry District and higher education institutions.
“Beyond just the money – which we will leverage – it’s pulling it all together under a tent and getting everyone to work together,” he said.
Malysz also highlighted a need for greater collaboration and networking to foster biotech growth.
Alongside creating new lab space, she said, “Helping entrepreneurs get connected to fractional CEOs or other resources to help them grow their businesses is going to be very important.”
