Areas of Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as Silicon Valley, are renowned for being life sciences hubs. But it's not outside of the realm of possibility for New York City to be next.
According to Susan Rosenthal, MBA, Senior Vice President, Life Sciences and Healthcare at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC), and Rick Lifton, MD, PhD, President of The Rockefeller University, it's already happening. They each spoke with Cure. about the city's strengths and resources in the biomedical sciences, as well as challenges that remain to be overcome to enable New York City to gain a foothold as one of the world's leading biotech hubs
Creating Thousands of Jobs in NYC
Propelling this transition is LifeSci NYC, a $1.1 billion initiative overseen by NYC EDC to create 40,000 life sciences jobs over the next 10 to 15 years. Since the launch of LifeSci NYC in 2016, the number of life sciences companies and incubators has expanded fivefold across the city's five boroughs.
"We're doing everything we can to put into place the infrastructure, translational R&D and talent programs to have several thriving life sciences corridors in New York City," said Rosenthal. "We'll see the science and new cures moving forward in company pipelines. We'll also see people coming to work — whether they're working in a lab or an office — who are thinking about what we can do to help people live better, longer lives."
Learning from the Pandemic
NYC EDC played a pivotal role since the earliest days of the pandemic in accelerating COVID-19 testing throughout the city, establishing an innovative Pandemic Response Lab and processing many thousands of tests with a 24-hour turnaround time. The effort required collaboration between New York City Health + Hospitals, NYU Langone Medical Center, the Opentrons robotic company and the New York City Test + Trace team. In addition to COVID testing, the lab performed sequencing to identify new variants.
"The COVID-19 pandemic was a wonderful demonstration that in a crisis, we can move mountains and do things that nobody would have imagined we would be able to do, and at a pace that was unprecedented," said Lifton. "Once those barriers are down, I think it will become a much more natural way of interacting with one another. I know in my own institution, people are much more attuned to looking outside the institution now than they were before to see where there are synergies."
NYC is a Home to Medical Centers and Universities
Such collaboration is what makes New York City an ideal location to become a hub for the life sciences. It is home to multiple world-class academic medical centers, hospitals and research-focused universities.
"Academic medical centers are increasingly attuned to making sure that every good idea has the opportunity to advance toward the clinic," said Lifton. "Many of them will not ultimately be successful, but there has been tremendous democratization in the removal of barriers to move ideas from basic research to clinical implementation and application."
Already life sciences corridors are growing around the city, with clusters of science-focused organizations on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side and in midtown, Hudson Square in lower Manhattan and Long Island City in Queens. Deerfield Management Company and NYC EDC collaborated to establish Cure as a healthcare innovation hub in NYC’s mid-town “Silicon Alley.” Cure is home to startup and established companies, an academic institution, an investment firm, a non-profit medical incubator and the “Lab of the Future, as well as offering conference and event spaces. NYC EDC recently announced the creation of the Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC Kips Bay), a life sciences innovation, career and education hub that may include a translational research institute, corporate innovation campus, nonprofit or philanthropy-led research entity and an innovation hub or accelerator.
A Financial Powerhouse
Venture capital and financial funding are critical to fuel the momentum of a life sciences hub and are widely accessible in New York City. "The amount of funding that happens here is incredible. There is access to financial markets and places for companies to grow," said Rosenthal. "Intellectual property is coming out of New York City institutions and new companies are starting. If the science is there and the data are there and the leadership is there, venture capital is investing."
"Capital is pretty good at finding its way to good opportunities, but having it in the same environment is a huge plus," added Lifton. "There's no place like New York City for raising capital to fund very good ideas."
Artificial intelligence (AI) will also accelerate innovation. "AI is already being used in drug discovery to find new targets and identify better drugs. It's improving the flow of information," Rosenthal explained. "New York has such strong data and an incredibly diverse population, which is good for research. We have to be very mindful that research is for patients and communities."
Preparing for the Future
Despite this acceleration of discovery, challenges remain. "We've learned a lot over the past 50 to 100 years about the human body, but we have a really long way to go. There are some pretty big hairy problems still out there. Not everyone has access, not just in New York City but globally, and that really flummoxes me," Rosenthal contended. "We have the resources in this world to provide care. We need to bridge systems with communities to make people feel more comfortable engaging with the healthcare system, while improving efficiency and making sure we are providing care for the right purposes."
Climate change will also bring on new healthcare challenges and pandemics. "Our climate is changing, and that is going to put a lot of stress on the healthcare system. Are we ready? I don't think so," Rosenthal noted. "Whether it's the next virus, the next fungus or the next bacteria that may arise as the Earth warms, we need to make sure we are ready for what may come down the road, as opposed to being reactive. Unfortunately for COVID, we were more reactive than I personally would have liked. I think many people would agree with me about that."
Establishing New York City as a life sciences hub would significantly help. "We're collaborating with institutions that are doing incredible work to push that research forward and have it become the next therapeutic, the next device, the next sustainable food or the next material that you could use for clothing that wouldn't end up in a landfill," Rosenthal explained. "Through this initiative, we'll provide researchers and companies with the space to grow and build talent, including non-technical jobs. We're focusing on supporting the next generation by providing more access to labs and STEM training and helping adults who are considering careers in the life sciences."
Lifton wishes he could be around long term to see it all unfold. "I don't think that 50 years ago, people could have imagined we would be where we are today. From genomics to neuroscience to immunology, everything has transformed completely," he concluded. "I wish I was starting over so I could be here 50 years from now to see the progress that will come. I think that even the most forward-thinking people will be surprised at how quickly technology evolves and how its application to medicine will be revolutionized."