Life Sciences

Where Life Sciences Thrive

The orthopedic implants that revived your daughter’s athletic career. The tiny cameras that caught your dad’s colon cancer early. The at-home COVID test that made it safe again to gather at the holidays. Those life-changing technologies were developed by companies headquartered in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. B. Braun Medical, Olympus Corporation of the Americas, and OraSure Technologies operate and innovate here because of top research schools nearby and a labor force of 1.7 million within an hour’s drive, all in the heart of the Northeast’s life sciences supercluster. Be a part of where 170+ life sciences businesses thrive.
 
 
Learn what makes the Lehigh Valley a great home for life sciences companies in this short video.

 

A Who's Who of Industry Leaders

You're in Good Company

  • OraSure Technologies, a diagnostic leader that started in a Lehigh Valley business incubator, invented the first oral HIV test and recently opened a 139,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the Lehigh Valley that will produce 2 million in-home COVID-19 tests per week. 

  • B. Braun, a German company that is among the world's largest medical device manufacturers, has called Lehigh Valley home for more than 40 years. Its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing facilities, including a recently completed $200 million, 310,000-square-foot expansion, are here.

  • Olympus Corporation, a global med-tech leader, has its Americas headquarters in Lehigh Valley, Pa. The health care sector relies upon Olympus products and technologies to perform diagnostic, therapeutic, and minimally invasive procedures and treatments.

  • Sharp, a global leader in pharmaceutical and biotech packaging, arrived in Lehigh Valley, Pa., in 2004 and has expanded its operations here several times. It recently received a Foreign Trade Zone designation for its Lehigh Valley facilities. The FTZ application was sponsored by LVEDC.
You're in Good Company
Strong Foundations

A Culture of Innovation

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which invests in and supports tech-based businesses, attracts more innovation. Headquartered at Lehigh University's Mountaintop Campus, Ben Franklin has helped launch 520 new companies. 

The Lehigh Valley's life sciences ecosystem also is supported  by 11 colleges and universities which graduate 10,000 students every year.

 

A Culture of Innovation

173
Life Sciences Business Establishments

$96,783
Average Life Sciences Wage in the Lehigh Valley

6,895
Employment in the Lehigh Valley's Life Sciences Sector

+2.5%
5-Year Annual Growth Rate in Employment

Skilled, Affordable Workforce

 

Occupation Lehigh Valley, Pa. Philadelphia Metro New York City Metro
Lab technicians $30.05 $35.38 $40.96
Chemists $44.09 $49.62 $49.13
Assemblers $20.29 $21.92 $21.83
Packaging machine operators $22.93 $23.13 $21.30

Source: JobsEQ, Q4 2023

Skilled, Affordable Workforce
Everything You Need, All in the Right Place

The Lehigh Valley Advantage

  • Located on the border of New Jersey, which boasts more biophysicists than any other U.S. state, and an hour from Philadelphia, a top life sciences hub

  • We are within a day's drive of a third of the U.S. population

  • We are within 100 miles of 23 transportation and infrastructure assets including the Port of New York/New Jersey and Port of Philadelphia

  • Features a network of rail lines is dedicated to freight and an intermodal that is 15 minutes from an international airport

  • Excellent utility infrastructure: electricity, natural gas, water, wastewater, broadband

  • A third of college-educated residents have engineering degrees

  • Home to Lehigh University Center for Manufacturing Systems Engineering

  • Home to world-renowned Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania incubator for emerging tech companies

  • High employment concentration of medical device, equipment and diagnostic makers: five times the typical U.S. region.
The Lehigh Valley Advantage

'Tremendous Talent Pool'

“There’s a tremendous talent pool in this area. We have so many colleges and universities that we have no problems getting highly-qualified individuals. The schools in this area produce excellent candidates.” — Salvatore Salamone, Founder and CEO of Saladax Biomedical

 

 

'Tremendous Talent Pool'

To learn more about how the Lehigh Valley can help your business, fill out this quick form or email Doug Warfel at dwarfel@lehighvalley.org.