How Houston became a leader in clinical trials

Houston's leadership in developing new medicines starts with clinical trials.

Here's how: Houston brings researchers, health centers, patients and biopharmaceutical companies together, creating the partnerships and infrastructure needed to support the discovery and development of new medicines.

• This biopharmaceutical hub also expands opportunities for patients to participate in clinical trials and fuels economic growth across Texas.

Houston's advantage is the concentration of patient populations and infrastructure needed to move that work forward.

At a recent Axios Live event in Houston, Bristol Myers Squibb Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Policy Officer Cari Gallman explained why the company selected Houston after a competitive nationwide search:

• "The choice of Houston was not an accident. As we were thinking about where we need to invest and grow, we did a very competitive search. What really drew us to Houston was a few things… This city has incredible biomedical research infrastructure and medical centers doing cutting edge work. Also, they are developing a workforce that brings talent to what we're doing now, but also in the future."

An example: The Texas Medical Center (TMC) in Houston is the world's largest medical complex.

• It includes an ecosystem of 60+ member institutions, including major hospitals, universities and research organizations such as MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine.
• TMC supports more than 2,000 active clinical trials and serves roughly 10 million patients annually.

The density and connected infrastructure of TMC brings patients, researchers and biopharmaceutical companies together in one place, making it easier to collaborate and move new medicines from discovery to development.

Here's the deal: Developing a new medicine is a long, complex process that requires significant investment. On average, for a biopharmaceutical company to bring a new medicine to market, it takes 10-15 years of research and $2.6 billion in investment. Only about 2% of drugs in development get approved and go on to recoup their R&D costs.

• Patients are essential to that process. Their participation helps researchers generate the evidence needed to understand how potential new medicines work.

Houston's extensive clinical trial infrastructure and access to patient populations help create opportunities to connect more people with clinical research.

• The details: A Phase 3 study underway in Houston is evaluating whether an investigational seasonal influenza vaccine is more effective than a currently licensed flu vaccine in preventing lab-confirmed flu in adults age 65 and older.

The impact: Clinical trials can deliver benefits far beyond patient care — bringing investment and economic growth to the communities where the research happens.

According to research by TEConomy Partners and PhRMA, Texas is home to over 2,500 active clinical trials with an estimated 102,462 enrollees, generating $7.7 billion in total economic impact.

• The Longhorn State ranks second nationally in economic impact from industry-sponsored clinical trials.

Clinical trials are just one part of Texas' growing biopharmaceutical footprint, which supports jobs, investment and innovation across the state.

Key numbers: Texas' broader biopharmaceutical ecosystem supports:

• 309,628 jobs across the state, including 49,165 direct biopharmaceutical jobs.
• $95 billion in total economic output.
• $148,482 in average annual compensation for direct biopharmaceutical jobs.
• $1.3 billion in state and federal income tax revenue.

Looking ahead: Major new biopharmaceutical investments are expanding the footprint across Texas.

• AstraZeneca is expanding a $445 million manufacturing facility in Coppell.
• BMS is investing $2.3 billion to establish a new, flexible manufacturing campus to produce next-generation medicines in Houston.
• Recently, Eli Lilly and Company broke ground on a $6.5 billion manufacturing facility in Houston.

• Novartis is building a new radioligand therapy (RLT) manufacturing site in Denton, one of its five RLT sites nationwide.

This growth doesn't come as a surprise. Years of investment in Houston's talent, infrastructure and life sciences ecosystem have helped build the foundation needed to support biomanufacturing at scale.

• As Bristol Myers Squibb Board Chair and CEO Christopher Boerner said when announcing the company's Houston investment: "Houston and the state of Texas offer the talent, infrastructure and partnership needed to help bring that vision to life."

The challenge: Sustaining this momentum requires policies that support continued investment in research, development and delivery.

• Strong intellectual property protections and pro-growth policies help create the conditions for companies to invest in all stages of the drug development lifecycle in the U.S., like early-stage R&D, clinical trials and manufacturing.
• A modern regulatory ecosystem that accelerates the start of clinical trials, leverages new technology to drive efficiency and supports domestic manufacturing.  For example, the biopharmaceutical industry is advocating to accelerate the start of first-in-human clinical trials by centralizing IRB review and simplifying IND paperwork, helping create a modern regulatory ecosystem leveraging novel evidence and new technology and AI to drive efficiency.

That foundation is increasingly important as the U.S. competes with countries like China for research and biopharmaceutical leadership. Policies that weaken incentives for innovation risk shifting investment — and the jobs, investments and manufacturing that come with it — elsewhere.

The takeaway: Houston shows what is possible when a strong biopharmaceutical industry, researchers, health systems and patients work together as a collaborative ecosystem supporting clinical trials.

• Protecting and strengthening that ecosystem can expand opportunities for patients to participate in research, support high-wage research, STEM and manufacturing jobs and help translate scientific discoveries into the medical advances of the future.

With policies that keep pace with innovation, America can sustain its global leadership, delivering new medicines to American patients first and helping biopharmaceutical hubs like Houston thrive.

Learn more about what makes the clinical trial ecosystem thrive in Houston.