Press Release

Contact:

Lori LeRoy
BioCrossroads
317-238-2456     317-514-0095 cell

 

Indiana’s $44 billion life sciences industry packs a powerful punch
New report underscores state’s national rankings as a life sciences leader in the areas
of exports, employment concentration, job growth and FDA filings


Indianapolis, June 23, 2011 – A rapidly growing life sciences industry has a $44 billion total impact 
on Indiana’s economy, according to a comprehensive new report released today by BioCrossroads. The 
report, Indiana’s Life Sciences Industry: 2002-2010—Tracking Progress and Charting the Course for 
Continued Success, authored by Walter H. Plosila, Ph.D., and based on data gathered by the Indiana 
Business Resource Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, illustrates a decade of 
substantial growth and measurable progress across a wide range of nationally significant indicators.

For example, the report notes that by 2009, Indiana’s life sciences exports totaled $7.4 billion, ranking 
the third highest in the United States, behind only California and Texas. The state has the third highest 
life sciences employment concentration* nationally, and has seen a 21% increase in life sciences 
employment, adding more than 8,800 new jobs to the industry since 2002. More than 50,000 workers 
at 825 companies comprise four life sciences sub-sectors: medical devices and equipment, drugs and 
pharmaceuticals, research, testing and medical laboratories, and agricultural feedstock and chemicals.
Indiana’s health information technology sector contributes an additional 2,500 workers and 72 
companies.

The report also highlights the progress of Indiana’s life sciences companies in discovering and 
commercializing thousands of new products over the past decade. There were 2,226 U.S. Food and 
Drug Administration filings between 2005 and 2010 – the Hoosier state had the ninth highest number 
of 510(k) applications with 1,821 and the 11th highest number of Premarket Approval applications with 
405.

“There are three key components to having a thriving innovation cluster: the sector must be based on 
real assets, must draw substantial corporate and philanthropic investment, and must be sustained by 
the investments of others who care about it,” said David Johnson, president and CEO of BioCrossroads.
“This new report demonstrates that Indiana has all of those elements working together. Compared to 
other states and regions, we have a significant competitive advantage because of our focus on 
cultivating a skilled workforce, engaged university and academic institutions, strong philanthropic 
support, novel public-private partnerships, access to capital and a positive business climate.” 

Other key findings in the report:

  • More than $600 million in philanthropic funding has bolstered the life sciences community since 2000.
  • Over 1,900 life sciences-related patents have been issued to Indiana holders since 2004.
  • From 2005 to 2010, Indiana opportunities received nearly $1.8 billion in capital investment for new and existing life sciences companies.

“Indiana’s life sciences sector is one of the nation’s success stories, and BioCrossroads has been catalytic 
in its sustained and strategic efforts to make the state a leader in this growing global industry,” said 
Plosila, who also authored the Battelle’s original report on the potential of Indiana’s life sciences sector 
in 2002, where he served as vice president, Technology Partnership Practice, prior to retiring in 2008.
“I have followed the state’s progress over the last eight years. Through the partnerships BioCrossroads 
and its members have built and their focus on existing strengths and emerging opportunities, Indiana 
offers a model for other cluster initiatives to follow. The state is well positioned to continue this growth 
and leadership.”

Indiana is home to the global headquarters for: Biomet, Cook Medical, DePuy Orthopaedics, Dow 
AgroSciences, Eli Lilly and Company, WellPoint, and Zimmer and the North American headquarters of 
Roche Diagnostics; Beckman Coulter, Boston Scientific, Covance, Mead Johnson and Medco have 
major operations located within the state.

The full report and a quick facts sheet are available atwww.biocrossroads.com

About BioCrossroads
BioCrossroads (www.biocrossroads.com) is Indiana’s initiative to grow, advance and invest in the life 
sciences, a public-private collaboration that supports the region’s existing research and corporate 
strengths while encouraging new business development.  BioCrossroads provides money and support to 
life sciences businesses, launches new life sciences enterprises (Indiana Health Information Exchange
Fairbanks Institute for Healthy CommunitiesBioCrossroadsLINX,OrthoWorx and Datalys Center), 
expands collaboration and partnerships among Indiana’s life science institutions, promotes science 
education and markets Indiana’s life sciences industry.

*Employment concentration is a useful way to gauge a state or county’s degree of specialization in a given industry or cluster of industries.  Location Quotients (LQs) measure the degree of job concentration within the region relative to the nation.  A county LQ greater than 1.0 is said to have a greater concentration than the national average.  When the LQ is significantly above average, 1.20 or greater, the county is said to have a “specialization” in the industry.  (Battelle)


Editor’s note: jpg files of graphics are available.