Cure
Overview
Explore Seattle's most impactful biotech and life sciences companies, and learn why Washington continues to be one of the nation’s leading states for biopharma investment.
Greater Seattle ranks among the top 10 biotech and life science clusters in the U.S., with more than 42,000 jobs and nearly 9.3 million square feet of R&D and lab space in 2024. The region is home to global players, mid-sized biopharma, and emerging startups across therapeutics, diagnostics, genomics, and discovery platforms. It also benefits from world-class research institutions, including the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
“Research institutions tend to attract the most talent and government funding, and that’s certainly been true in Seattle,” said Ben Perez, a biomedical consultant at Pure Tested Peptides. He pointed to continued public investment in innovation and protein engineering, along with growth in AI-driven biology and therapeutics. “The companies leading here are integrating computational biology with immunology, cell therapy, and diagnostics,” he said, adding that close ties between universities and clinical centers have helped accelerate progress.
Marc Cummings, President and CEO of Life Science Washington, said Seattle’s strength lies in its ability to attract scientific and entrepreneurial talent while building companies that pair AI with deep biological expertise.
“Markets move in cycles, but Seattle’s leadership at the intersection of artificial intelligence and life sciences positions the region for long-term relevance,” he said. He also cited a mission-driven, collaborative culture that supports both startups and established firms. As the ecosystem matures, he added, Seattle is increasingly a place where biotech companies can launch, scale, and stay.
Below is a curated list of Seattle-based biotech and life science companies making an impact across the region.
Pfizer
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Year Founded: 1849
Origin Story: Founded in NYC by Charles Pfizer & Charles Erhart. In 2023, its Bothell location became a major biotech hub after the company acquired Seagen.
Key Leaders: Albert Bourla, PhD, Chairman and CEO
Number of Employees:~1,500 in Seattle/Bothell area
Stage: Public
Financial Snapshot:The company’s market cap was roughly $150.61 billion in February 2026.
Key Products: Vaccines and oncology drugs
Recent Highlights: In 2024–2025, after the Seagen acquisition, the company underwent manufacturing realignment in Seattle. In January 2026, the company announced that Cohort 3 analysis from the BREAKWATER study showed objective response rate of 64% with BRAFTOVI plus cetuximab and FOLFIRI compared to 39% with standard-of-care treatment FOLFIRI with or without bevacizumab.
Bristol Myers Squibb
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Year founded: 1887
Origin story (if notable): Bristol-Myers Company was founded by William McLaren Bristol and John Ripley Myers. In 1989, the company merged with Squibb Corporation, which was founded by Edward Robinson Squibb.
Key Leaders: Chris Boerner, PhD, Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer
Number of Employees:~1,530 in Seattle
Stage / Funding round: Public
Financial Snapshot:The company’s market cap was roughly $122.79 billion in February 2026. In 2022, the company also invested in local businesses through vendor relationships totaling $142.9 million in Washington state, including $4.9 million in investments with diverse vendors.
Key Products / Pipeline: Therapies in cancer immunology and cell therapy in Seattle and Bothell
Recent Highlights: In June 2025, Bristol Myers Squibb made an agreement with BioNTech valued up to ~$11 billion to jointly develop a bispecific cancer antibody candidate (BNT327) that is currently in multiple clinical trials. And, in January 2026, the company partnered with Janux Therapeutics to co-develop a new cancer drug targeting solid tumors with potential payments up to ~$850 million.
Just - Evotec Biologics
Sector: Biotherapeutics development and manufacturing
Year Founded: In 2019, Evotec SE acquired Just Biotherapeutics, forming Just - Evotec Biologics, a separate entity from the parent company.
Key Leaders: Linda Zuckerman, PhD, EVP and Global Head of Biotherapeutics in Seattle; Randal Bass, PhD, EVP Process Design and Biotherapeutic Operation; Jeremy Gross, SVP Global IT & Digitalization
Number of Employees: ~150 in Seattle
Stage: Public
Financial Snapshot: As of mid-2025, Just - Evotec’s revenues were $371.2 million.
Key Products: Cell line and process development through late-stage clinical supply; clinical and commercial GMP manufacturing
Recent Highlights: In January 2026, Just - Evotec received a grant from the Gates Foundation to enable global access to biotherapeutics utilizing the company’s molecular design suite of computational technologies, called J.MD.
AGC Biologics
Sector: Pharmaceutical development and manufacturing services for protein-based biologics, cell and gene therapies, and messenger RNA
Year Founded: 2018
Origin story (if notable): The company was founded as a convergence of Asahi Glass Company (AGC) Bioscience, Biomeva GmbH (Heidelberg, Germany), and CMC Biologics to form a global CDMO focused on offering microbial and mammalian capabilities, supporting early-phase, late-phase, and commercial production needs, at small and large scales
Key Leaders: Alberto Santagostino, CEO; Kasper Møller, PhD, Chief Technical Officer; Christoph Winterhalter, Chief Business Officer
Number of Employees: ~400 in Seattle/Bothell area
Stage: Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO)
Financial Snapshot: Generates CDMO revenues
Key Products: Specialized Cell and Gene Division; dedicated Cell and Gene Technologies Division for cell therapies and viral vectors; utilizing proprietary manufacturing platforms ProntoLVV (lentiviral) and BravoAAV (adeno-associated) to speed up GMP phases and reduce costs for clients
Recent Highlights: In 2020, the Seattle site was chosen by Novavax Inc. to produce materials for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine. The campus was also chosen to manufacture materials for a late-stage project for China-based I-MAB Biopharma.
Adaptive Biotechnologies
Sector: Immune system sequencing technologies
Year Founded: 2009
Origin Story: Brothers Chad and Harlan Robins founded the company based on a breakthrough in immunosequencing developed at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Key Leaders: Chad Robins, Co-Founder and CEO; Harlan Robins, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Number of Employees: ~750
Stage: Public
Financial Snapshot: Revenue growth in 2025 for the first quarter was $52.4 million. The MRD business, which contributed 83% of revenue, grew 34% versus the first quarter of 2024.
Key Products: ClonoSEQ as well as immunosequencing, TCR therapeutics, antibody therapeutics.
Recent Highlights: In late 2025, the company announced a multi-year deal with Pfizer worth up to $890 million for rheumatoid arthritis research. The deal allows Pfizer to use Adaptive’s technology to analyze immune cells from rheumatoid arthritis patients and hunt for T-cell receptors.
Sana Biotechnology
Sector: Gene regulation and cell engineering
Year founded: 2018
Origin Story: Founded by leaders from Juno Therapeutics including Steve Harr and Hans Bishop, with a focus on engineered cells and gene therapies.
Key Leaders: Steve Harr, MD, CEO; Gary Meininger, MD, Chief Medical Officer; Dhavalkumar Patel, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer; Snehal Patel, Chief Technical Officer
Number of Employees: ~410
Stage: Public
Financial Snapshot: In 2021, the company raised $588 million in its IPO, making it the largest-ever IPO for a preclinical biotech company. The company’s market cap was about $1.10 billion as of February 2026.
Key Products: Stem-cell cell-derived pancreatic islet cell program for people with type 1 diabetes (SC451) and an in vivo CAR T program for B-cell related diseases (SG293).
Recent Highlights: In December 2025, the company shared research that evaluated a systemically delivered virus-like particle (VLP) using Sana’s fusogen technology to target and gene edit hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in vivo. Results showed potent and cell-specific in vivo gene editing of HSCs in the bone marrow in several murine models, with stable gene-editing of long-term HSCs. In January 2026, Sana presented data showing its hypomune-engineered pancreatic islet cells (UP421) survived and functioned for over 12 months in a Type 1 diabetes patient without immunosuppression.
Callio Therapeutics
Sector: Multi-payload antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) treatments
Year Founded: 2024
Origin Story: The company launched leveraging licensed multi-payload ADC technology from Hummingbird Bioscience.
Key Leaders: Piers Ingram, PhD, CEO; Jerome Boyd-Kirkup, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer Naomi Hunder, MD, Chief Medical Officer
Number of Employees:~10
Stage: Series A
Financial Snapshot: $187 million Series A funding
Notable Investors: Frazier Healthcare Partners; Jeito Capital; Norwest; EDBI; Novo Holdings A/S; Omega Funds; Seed Capital; Platanus; Clavystbio
Key Products: HER2-targeted dual-payload program
Recent Highlights: In March 2025, Callio Therapeutics announced its launch with the closing of a $187 million Series A financing round. The company indicated that it intends to use the proceeds to achieve clinical proof-of-concept for its HER2-targeted dual-payload ADC and a second undisclosed ADC program.
A-Alpha Bio
Sector: Machine-learning and high-throughput yeast-based assays to measure interactions between drugs and proteins
Year Founded: 2017
Origin Story: Spun out of the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design and Center for Synthetic Biology
Key Leaders: David Younger, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO; Randolph Lopez, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer; Troy Lionberger, PhD, Chief Business Officer
Number of Employees: ~60
Stage: Closed $22.4M Series A2 in 2023
Financial Snapshot: Raised a total of ~$51M across multiple rounds
Notable Investors: Perceptive Advisors; Xontogeny Ventures; Madrona Venture Group; Breakout Ventures; OS Fund; Lux Capital; AME Cloud Ventures
Key Products: AlphaSeq, enables the rapid and quantitative measurement of millions of protein-protein binding affinities simultaneously; AlphaBind, is trained on the world’s largest protein-protein interaction database and predicts binding strength from sequence.
Recent Highlights: In July 2023, the company announced a $22.4M Series A2 to enable further development of the company’s AlphaSeq and AlphaBind platforms and accelerate their oncology-focused internal pipeline.
Lundbeck Seattle Biopharmaceuticals
Sector: Antibody-based therapeutics for pain, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases
Year Founded: Lundbeck was founded by Hans Lundbeck in 1915 in Copenhagen.
Origin Story: In 2019, it acquired Alder Biopharmaceuticals, located in Washington. The location is referred to as Lundbeck Seattle BioPharmaceuticals, Inc.
Key Leaders: Charl van Zyl, President and CEO; Johan Luthman, EVP, Head of R&D; Lars Bang, EVP, Product Development and Supply
Number of Employees: ~1,000 U.S. employees
Stage: Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical subsidiary with marketed products under Lundbeck
Financial Snapshot: Lundbeck’s overall revenue is approximately $1.4 million driven by global neuroscience products including migraine therapies.
Notable Investors: The Lundbeck Foundation; The Vanguard Group, Inc.; Handelsbanken Asset Management; Dimensional Fund Advisors LP; Norges Bank Investment Management
Key Products: VYEPTI (eptinezumab-jjmr), a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults.
Recent highlights: In June 2025, the company announced that data showed high long-term retention and strong clinical results for VYEPTI in chronic migraine and patients who failed previous preventive treatments, underscoring its therapeutic value.
