The following is an excerpt of an op/ed by MassBio CEO & President Kendalle Burlin O’Connell and BIO CEO John F. Crowley in the Boston Globe on June 16, 2025 as the BIO International Convention commenced in Boston:
As nearly 20,000 scientists, executives, investors, entrepreneurs, and policy makers gather in Boston this week for the BIO International Convention, our industry stands at a pivotal moment. The same ecosystem that has delivered breakthrough treatments and cures for previously untreatable diseases now faces unprecedented headwinds that threaten American biotech leadership — and lives.
The Massachusetts biotech industry produces an astonishing 15 percent of the entire US drug development pipeline and employs nearly 117,000 people in high-skilled jobs. It’s where breakthrough treatments — for cancer, rare diseases, and chronic ailments, to name a few — are born.
And while Massachusetts remains a cornerstone of US biotech dominance, similar ecosystems have taken root and thrived in cities across the country — each contributing to our national strength in science and innovation.
But this engine of innovation and economic growth is under threat.
Recent federal actions could derail decades of progress. Deep funding cuts to the National Institutes of Heath could dim innovation. Food and Drug Administration staffing reductions have already lengthened some review times and increased regulatory costs. Tariffs and other trade barriers threaten to disrupt critical supply chains and increase hospital and health system costs. As a recent MassBio survey points out, amid this uncertainty, venture capital — the lifeblood of early-stage biotechs — is retreating rapidly, with early-stage deal values hitting a four-year low.
Many small biotechs — the true engines of innovation — are struggling to navigate this great uncertainty.
Meanwhile, China has prioritized investment in biotechnology, increasing annual funding from $35 million a decade ago to $15 billion in 2023. The results speak for themselves: In 2023, China’s innovative drug assets represented 24 percent of the global biopharma pipeline, while American assets accounted for 40 percent. That’s a dramatic jump from 2013, when China’s contribution stood at just 2 percent. The United States contributed 47 percent that year.
This matters far beyond company balance sheets. The global bioeconomy is estimated to be worth more than $4 trillion today and is projected to reach $30 trillion by 2050.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. If American biotech leadership is allowed to erode, critical discoveries, economic growth, and strategic leverage will migrate to rival nations. The suffering of patients waiting for cures and new medicines will be prolonged unnecessarily.