Site Lines: Midwest U.S.

In the pharmaceutical and biotechnology business, the perceived center of the known universe has always been either the East Coast or the West Coast of the U.S. But the future for both industries may be determined not only by global players beyond U.S. borders, but in some other American states in between.

Photo courtesy of Cook Pharmica

Skyrocketing costs to discover, develop and deliver new drugs are leading to major changes, outsourced infrastructure and new, networked models throughout the pharmaceutical industry. Comparable and constant pressures from venture capital investors to increase productivity, decrease costs and hedge risk along an expanding (and often uncertain) scientific frontier are likewise driving start-up biotech companies to build lean platforms for generating faster proof-of-concept data, rather than lasting models for scalable businesses. In a world of seemingly limitless therapeutic possibilities but increasingly impatient private and public capital markets, the pharma and biotech sectors are converging in their shared needs for doing business in ways that lead to more flexibility, distributed risk, and manageable costs.