Pennsylvania enjoys a climate for life science enterprises that extends across the state. Its vitality is visible in companies participating in many stages of development of biotech products and life sustaining services--from mature, globally active enterprises to emerging companies launching first-to-market technologies. Throughout Pennsylvania there are 125 bio-pharma companies and more than 2,000 life sciences related-enterprises. Eight of the largest U.S. pharmaceutical companies are within a 50-mile radius of Philadelphia.

Biotech companies that run the gamut of product and technology life cycles represent a vital part of the Keystone State's economy--with important concentrations of this entrepreneurial sector in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Central Pennsylvania. In those regions and others, Pennsylvania's internationally competitive, university-affiliated research hospitals provide a catalyst for life-science ventures.     

Add to these assets of medical knowledge and clinical skill the alignment of Commonwealth policies and practices that promote enterprise creation. That factor is most visible through the Life Sciences Greenhouses for Central, Southeastern, and Western Pennsylvania established with a $100-million investment from Pennsylvania's settlement with the tobacco industry. Through Pennsylvania Bio, an industry group, biotech firms have been speaking with a more united voice about the issues they want to see addressed within the state.