This story is part of CNBC's quarterly Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have transformed into business centers with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies and employees.
The Denver-Boulder area is rapidly emerging as a major hub for the life sciences industry, attracting companies developing cutting-edge medical treatments and technologies.
Life sciences research aims to understand living organisms, from cells to our planet, to improve health, food and the environment. The growth in funding is fueled by a combination of factors: an increase in venture capital and government funding, a collaborative research environment, and a thriving 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 laboratory space.
CNBC
San Diego-based BioMed Realty, a major real estate firm (acquired by Blackstone in 2016 for $8 billion), made headlines in 2022 with its record $625 million purchase of Flatiron Park, a massive complex in Boulder, Colorado. . One million square feet distributed over 23 buildings are being converted into laboratory and technology space to meet the growing demand in the region.
“This was a logical next step…to invest in and expand Boulder,” 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 we are the ones providing the mission-critical infrastructure.”
In addition to Boulder, the company operates in five other core life sciences and technology markets, including San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, the Boston area, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Enveda Biosciences, a biotechnology company, occupies laboratory space in Boulder.
CNBC
According to commercial real estate group CBRE, 14 companies were seeking a cumulative 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 factory space completed and ready to move in with another 560,000 square feet under construction or renovation.
“I would describe Boulder as unique and explosive. Unique from the standpoint of its location in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and then explosive in terms of how the ecosystem has actually grown and expanded over the last decade,” Schoen said.
Funding is on the rise
Investors are taking notice.
“Investors from Colorado as well as across the coasts see opportunities here,” said Elise Blazewicz, president and CEO of the Colorado Bioscience Association. “Our ecosystem has raised over $1 billion for the past seven consecutive years – and early-stage funding in Colorado in 2023 grew faster than other life sciences markets across the country.”
Founded in 2003, the Bioscience Society supports the growth of the life sciences, focusing on access to capital, education, networking, and more.
According to Blazevic, pre-seed funding, Series A and Series B rounds increased from 2022 to 2023. The largest increase was seen in Series A and Series B funding, which grew by $53 million, or 28%, year over year. Seed funding, the first stage of venture capital, grew by $18 million, up 163%, during that time period.
A recent CBRE report found that Denver-Boulder is the largest life sciences real estate market in the United States, fueled by record investments from venture capitalists and the National Institutes of Health.
The report also found that the number of qualified life sciences workers is growing much faster in the region than the national average, growing 35% over the past five years, compared to 16% growth in the United States overall.
Success in entrepreneurship
The recent increase in venture capital flow into 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. Pfizer acquired the company for $10.64 billion in 2019, and now Koch is the co-founder and CEO of the clinical-stage startup. Edge treatments.
Edgewise develops treatments for rare muscle disorders and generated net proceeds of $186.1 million in its March 2021 IPO.
But the company started small.
“We were in an incubator at the University of Colorado,” Koch told CNBC. “And we brought in talented people from the University of Colorado.” “We had interns come to us, who eventually became employees.”
A scientist at Edgewise Therapeutics in Boulder, Colorado, has focused on developing treatments for rare muscle disorders.
CNBC
Today, Edgewise has a much larger footprint in Boulder: 28,000 square feet in total, and half of its 93 employees work in the city office. The company plans to expand its presence and hire more workers in the coming years.
The Boulder area's history of research in DNA and RNA in the 1980s was key to launching protein-based drugs to fight disease, which helped attract capital to the life sciences center, Koch said.
“(This research) led to investment in the Boulder area,” he said. “And now, those companies that commercialized these products are reinvesting in Boulder.”
With the help of major venture firms, Edgewise Therapeutics has raised more than half a billion dollars – $550 million in cash through 2027.
“We decided that Boulder was really the right place. And I think that turned out to be the case. We were able to attract a lot of great talent,” Koch said.
Search power
Denver-Boulder's innovation ecosystem is churning out ideas quickly.
Aurora, Denver's largest suburb, is a life sciences research hub: a 256-acre complex that includes the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus, which receives $700 million in annual grant funding.
Dan LaBarbera is Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Founding Director of the Center for Drug Discovery at the Medical Campus.
“Our goal here at the Drug Discovery Center is to serve as a bridge to move innovation from academia to industry and then to the clinic,” LaBarbera told CNBC.
A glimpse inside the Drug Discovery Center on 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 medicines for a wide range of diseases from cancer to Alzheimer's – using cutting-edge technologies including robotics and 3D bioprinters.
“I think people are generally familiar with 3D printers, in terms of their ability to print plastics, or even metals,” LaBarbera said. “We are using very similar techniques to print complex tissues that mimic aspects of human disease.”
Historically, it has taken approximately 10 to 15 years for a drug to move from the discovery stage to FDA approval.
“Now we can accelerate that by using this technology to do this process by about six to eight years,” LaBarbera said.
The center helps shorten the timeline from drug discovery to treatment, helping startups and established companies bring advanced medicines to patients faster.
“Our goal is not to compete with the pharmaceutical industry,” LaBarbera said. “Our goal is actually to work with them to develop potential, really innovative drug treatments.”
Tune in: The “Success Cities” special featuring Denver & Boulder will air on CNBC on April 11 at 10 p.m. ET.
