Arizona’s bioscience industry continues to grow, and in some cases, that growth is happening at a faster rate than the rest of the country.
The latest Bioscience Roadmap released by the Flinn Foundation finds the job growth rate in the industry between 2020-2023 was more than 8% in Arizona, compared to 6.7% nationally. Wages in this sector were about $20,000 higher than other private-sector jobs in the state.
But, at the same time, the report does outline some challenges for the state.
Tammy McLeod, president and CEO of the Flinn Foundation, joined The Show to discuss.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: So let’s start by defining our terms here. When we talk about jobs in the bioscience industry, what kinds of jobs are we talking about?
TAMMY MCLEOD: Well, the way that we define the biosciences within Arizona is following the National Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s definition. So those are agriculture and feedstock jobs; industrial biosciences; bioscience related distribution; pharmaceuticals and diagnostics and the positions that fall within there; medical devices and equipment; research, testing and medical labs; and then we also include our hospitals and health systems because they’re such strong contributors to the biosciences.
BRODIE: So what has led to where we are now? Because this did not just sort of happen by accident, right? The state has tried to put policies and the environment in place to grow this kind of sector.
MCLEOD: That’s right. This has been a very intentional effort on behalf of the state of Arizona. So there was a study commissioned in 2002 that outlined a strategic plan for the state, a bioscience roadmap that would really leverage our research strengths but also build on the critical mass of firms that are in the biosciences. And so the coming together of private sector, public sector, universities, health systems, all of them, and convening around this roadmap has really led us to an oversized growth in this area.
BRODIE: What particularly stands out to you about the kind of growth that this industry has seen in Arizona over the last few years?
MCLEOD: Oh, there are a number of things that I can comment on. I will say, first and foremost, jobs and careers. We are outpacing the nation in both of those areas in the biosciences. Obviously we’ve seen a lot of growth in metro Phoenix just in population. But the bioscience jobs, both within the health systems and outside of the health systems, have really outpaced the nation.
And the important thing about that is that these are high-paying jobs. So the average position in the private sector is around $67,000. Bioscience jobs, are about $87,000. And the non-hospital bioscience jobs are over $100,000.
BRODIE: One of the other things that this report points out is that the amount of funding from the National Institutes of Health has been rising. Arizona’s share of that money overall around the country has been rising. I wonder, though, if that is maybe, at this moment, a point of concern given all that we’ve been hearing about — some of these grants may be going away, NIH funding being canceled.
MCLEOD: Well, I want to acknowledge the tumultuous and uncertain situation with respect to federally supported research and development. It’s having a personal impact on Arizona citizens, on patients and certainly on our scientists and clinicians.
We will have to see how that works out. But the research enterprise in the state has grown significantly, over the last period of years.
BRODIE: Given that growth, is there other money available to maybe backfill at least some of the NIH money if that becomes unavailable?
MCLEOD: You know, I think that’s yet to be determined. We really don’t know what money might go away. And we certainly don’t know — the size of the funding is significant. We have seen an incredible increase in NIH funding, really a testament to the life-changing work that’s being done in our institutions. NIH funding has far exceeded the nation as a whole in terms of the growth.
And that is going, you know, predominantly to our universities, although there are other sectors that receive those fundings. But when you look at the contribution of the University of Arizona research enterprise — especially in biosciences and health sciences — the rapid growth of ASU, and then NAU, was on the cusp of $50 million in 2023, moving it to what is called a coveted R1 designation.
BRODIE: So one of the other challenges that the report points out is in the area of commercialization and venture capital. How do you try to overcome those and maybe get those to where you want them to be?
MCLEOD: So great question. Let me talk about what we call the tech transfer first. Because we have sort of a mixed reaction to some of the things that in tech transfer. What we are seeing is that we have a healthy amount of patents being issued in our three universities. And the filings also are just up. And so there are discoveries being made there.
Where we lag a little bit is kind of licensing that and getting it out of the university. But the Arizona Board of Regents has recently initiated a very important project to bring together the three universities, as well as outside individuals, to come in and really discuss this.
And they’re putting an initiative and a spotlight on this very thing so that they can move and contribute, in a stronger way to this issue. I feel good about that one.
