WALTHAM, Mass.– The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) announced that Thermo Fisher Scientific has become a founding sponsor supporting the PABC campus in Doylestown, Pa., and their new B+Labs incubator in Philadelphia, where emerging life science companies can accelerate their journey to commercialization.
Philadelphia recently ranked as one of the top markets in the U.S. for life sciences, with continuous growth and $4B in new construction that supports the industry’s expansion. Through PABC’s existing campus and the new B+Labs incubator, PABC serves a critical need in the region for incubator space that includes the same state-of-the-art technologies that are accelerating drug discovery in other major cities. As a founding sponsor of B+Labs, which is a partnership between the PABC and Brandywine Realty Trust, Thermo Fisher will provide its advanced technology and expertise to emerging biotech residents.
“With more companies looking to move to Philadelphia and recent growth in the life sciences regionally, there is an urgent need for more support at early stages of development,” said Louis Kassa, CEO of Hepatitis B Foundation, Blumberg Institute, Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center. “Incubators and accelerators play a significant role in the success of start-ups, and by working with partners such as Thermo Fisher we have the resources to support this success at scale.”
“Emerging life science companies face many hurdles as they bring new discoveries from scientific idea to approved medicine, and this can slow or stall development of promising diagnostics and drugs,” said Abhinav Akhoury, vice president, corporate accounts, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “Through their incubator sites, PABC can accelerate the path to commercialization, and our investment ensures that these companies start with the commercial-scale technologies and workflows that will be required as they move from R&D to the clinic.”
Evrys Bio has been at the PABC for 10 years. The company’s President and CEO, Lillian W. Chiang, PhD, MBA, has started companies at two other incubators and says the PABC is superior. “This has been by far the best incubator space that I’ve been in because of the collaboration and because of how open it is. There’s a culture here that encourages interaction and we learn from each other’s experience.”
Data show that early stage biotechs are more successful at raising series A funding, securing larger deal sizes and achieving success when they are part of an incubator ecosystem. The PABC, with expertise from the Blumberg Institute, is one of the nation’s most successful life science incubators.
