This story is part of CNBC’s quarterly Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have transformed into business hubs with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies and employees.
The Denver-Boulder region is quickly becoming a major hub for the life sciences industry, attracting companies that develop cutting-edge medical treatments and technologies.
Life sciences research aims to understand living things, from cells to our planet, to improve health, nutrition and the environment. Funding growth is fueled by a combination of factors: an increase in venture capital and government funding, a collaborative research environment, and a booming market for laboratory space.
BioMed Realty CEO Tim Schoen gives CNBC a tour of a construction site slated to be transformed into state-of-the-art lab space.
CNBC
San Diego-based BioMed Realty, a major real estate player (acquired by Blackstone in 2016 for $8 billion), made headlines in 2022 with the record $625 million purchase of Flatiron Park, a massive resort located in Boulder, Colorado. The 1 million square feet across 23 buildings are being converted into laboratories and technology spaces to meet the region’s growing demand.
“It was the logical next step…to invest in Boulder and at scale,” said Tim Schoen, president and CEO of BioMed Realty. “Boulder has all the elements you want in an innovation ecosystem: research universities, scientists, venture capital, and then us providing the mission-critical infrastructure.”
In addition to Boulder, the company operates in five other key life sciences and technology markets, including San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, the Boston area and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Enveda Biosciences, a biotechnology company, occupies a laboratory in Boulder.
CNBC
According to commercial real estate group CBRE, 14 companies were seeking a combined 506,000 square feet of lab space in the Denver-Boulder market in 2023, which includes the neighboring city of Aurora. Additionally, the Denver-Boulder market saw 370,000 square feet of lab space completed and ready for move-in. with an additional 560,000 square feet under construction or renovation.
“I would describe Boulder as unique and explosive. Unique in terms of its location at the foot of the Rocky Mountains,” Schoen said, “and then explosive in terms of the growth and expansion of the ecosystem over the last decade “.
Increasing funding
Investors are taking note.
“Investors in Colorado as well as across the coasts see opportunities here,” said Elyse Blazevich, president and CEO of the Colorado Bioscience Association. “Our ecosystem has raised more than $1 billion over the past seven consecutive years – and seed funding in Colorado in 2023 has grown faster than other life sciences markets across the country.”
Founded in 2003, the Bioscience Association supports the growth of the life sciences, with a focus on access to capital, education, networking and more.
According to Blazevich, funding for pre-seed, Series A, and Series B projects increased from 2022 to 2023. The largest increase was seen in Series A and B funding, which increased by $53 million. , or 28%, from one year to the next. Pre-seed funding, the first stage of venture capital, increased by $18 million, an increase of 163%, during this period.
A recent CBRE report found Denver-Boulder to be America’s leading life sciences real estate market, fueled by record investments from venture capitalists and the National Institutes of Health.
The report also reveals that the pool of skilled life sciences workers is growing much faster in the region than the national average, with growth of 35% over the past five years, compared to 16% growth for the entire United States.
Entrepreneurial success
The recent increase in venture capital flowing to Denver-Boulder builds on the region’s proven track record of success over the past several decades.
In 1998, entrepreneur Kevin Koch co-founded the biotechnology company Array BioPharma in Boulder. The company was acquired by Pfizer for $10.64 billion in 2019, and Koch is now co-founder and CEO of a clinical-stage startup. Edgewise Therapeutics.
Edgewise develops therapies for rare muscle disorders and generated net proceeds of $186.1 million in its March 2021 IPO.
But the business started small.
“We were in an incubator within the University of Colorado. And we brought in talented people from the University of Colorado,” Koch told CNBC. “We welcomed interns who ultimately became employees.”
A scientist working at Edgewise Therapeutics in Boulder, Colorado, has focused on developing therapies for rare muscle disorders.
CNBC
Today, Edgewise has a much larger space in Boulder: 28,000 square feet in total, with half of its 93 employees working in the city office. The company plans to expand its presence and hire more workers in the coming years.
Koch said the Boulder area’s history of DNA and RNA research in the 1980s was key to unlocking protein-based drugs to fight disease, which helped attract capital towards the life sciences center.
“(This research) has generated investment in the Boulder area,” he said. “Now the companies that brought these products to market have reinvested in Boulder.”
With the help of top venture capital firms, Edgewise Therapeutics has raised more than half a billion dollars, or $550 million in liquidity through 2027.
“We decided that Boulder was really the right place. And I think it was. We were able to attract a lot of fantastic talent,” Koch said.
Research Center
Denver-Boulder’s innovation ecosystem produces ideas quickly.
Aurora, Denver’s largest suburb, is the epicenter of life sciences research: a 256-acre complex that is home to the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, which receives $700 million in annual grants.
Dan LaBarbera is a professor of pharmaceutical sciences and founding director of the Center for Drug Discovery on the medical campus.
“Our goal here at the Center for Drug Discovery is to serve as a bridge to move innovation from academia to industry and then to the clinic,” LaBarbera told CNBC.
A look inside the Drug Discovery Center at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, led by Dr. Dan LaBarbera (right), with the goal of accelerating the process from drug discovery to delivery to patients.
CNBC
Founded in 2021, the center develops drugs for a wide range of diseases, from cancer to Alzheimer’s, using cutting-edge technology, including robots and 3D bioprinters.
“I think people in general are familiar with 3D printers, in their ability to print plastics, even metals,” LaBarbera said. “We use very similar technologies to print complex tissues that mimic aspects of human diseases.”
Historically, it took approximately 10 to 15 years for a drug to move from the discovery phase to approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“Now we can accelerate this with this technology and take this process to about six to eight years,” LaBarbera said.
The center helps shorten the time between drug discovery and treatment, helping startups and existing companies deliver breakthrough medicines to patients more quickly.
“Our goal is not to compete with the pharmaceutical industry,” LaBarbera said. “Our goal is actually to work with them to develop really innovative potential drug therapies.”
TUNED IN: The “Cities of Success” special featuring Denver and Boulder will air on CNBC on April 11 at 10 p.m. ET.
cnbc
