Life Sciences Trade Group Announces Founding Member Companies

Novocure, which employs between 300 and 400 workers at its North American flagship location in Portsmouth, has signed on as an inaugural founding member of New Hampshire Life Sciences, trade group that supports the Granite State’s life sciences industry. (Courtesy)

Novocure and Novo Nordisk join New Hampshire Life Sciences

New Hampshire Life Sciences (NHLS), a newly formed trade group that supports the Granite State’s life sciences industry, has signed two companies that employ hundreds of workers as its inaugural founding members.

Novocure operates its North American flagship location in Portsmouth, where it employs between 300 and 400 workers. Novo Nordisk employs 350 people in West Lebanon.

“Both Novocure and Novo Nordisk are significant players here in New Hampshire,” said Andrea Hechavarria, president and CEO of NHLS. “Both are global companies so it’s really exciting to have them as our two first founding members.”

Novocure, which started its Portsmouth operations nearly 20 years ago, develops devices that use electric fields to kill cancer cells. Its products include Optune Gio, a portable, wearable device for patients suffering from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

“The life sciences is an ecosystem, and it starts with basic research,” said Bill Doyle, the company’s chairman. “But to change people’s lives, you have to go from basic research to applied clinical research. You have to do a lot of regulatory work. You have to work with physicians and payers. And that whole ecosystem doesn’t just exist in a vacuum. It really does require advocacy. And that’s really the role of a trade association.”

Novo Nordisk, headquartered in Denmark, develops pharmaceuticals for the treatment of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and other medical conditions. The company has operated in New Hampshire since 2104 and plans to add 100 workers in 2024, said Peter Gariepy, corporate vice president of Novo Nordisk’s West Lebanon site. Workforce development and affordable housing are the company’s biggest challenges, he said.

“NHLS will provide a centralized connection point for the industry and deploy its re-sources to build the life sciences community, enhance economic growth, and in-crease support for the sector throughout New Hampshire and New England,” Gariepy said in a statement provided to NH Business Review.

The New Hampshire life sciences industry generated $4.3 billion in sales in 2021 and represents 11,290 jobs, with average salaries of $130,848 per year, according a report released last June by the state.

Taylor Caswell, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs, says the new trade group could help New Hampshire best take advantage of a fast-growing business segment.

“Just government telling everybody that this is a nice place for life science only gets you so far,” Caswell said. “You’ve got to have a consolidated and collaborative private sector to also help tell that story.”

The life sciences industry has footholds in the Dartmouth/Lebanon area, the Seacoast and southern New Hampshire, but it is growing in other parts of the state. Caswell noted the 2022 arrival of Dutch life sciences firm Detact Diagnostics, which opened its U.S. headquarters in Keene and operates a lab at Keene State College. The company develops diagnostic tests for the health and food sector.

“I think what people don’t realize is that there are life science companies throughout the entire state, and that’s what we’re trying to advocate and promote,” Hechavarria said.

In related move, the Business and Industry Association and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council have joined New Hampshire Life Sciences as collaborative partners.

“Our mission at the BIA is to be the unifying voice of the business community that champions a competitive business climate and prosperous economic future for New Hampshire,” said Michael Skelton, BIA president and CEO, in a statement. “The continued rapid growth and success of New Hampshire’s life science sector strongly aligns with this mission.”

The partnership with the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, founded in 1985, will enable NHLS member companies to take advantage of the trade association’s MassBioEdge savings program, which aggregate their purchasing power. Partners include Fisher Scientific (lab supplies), Veolia Environmental Services (hazardous waste removal), Middlesex Gases (packaged cylinder and bulk gases), and W.B. Mason (office supplies).

“That’s really significant because the Edge program allows members to get special rates on really important vendor supplies that you wouldn’t get without being a member,” Hechavarria said. “And it connects New Hampshire to MassBio in a way that I think is going to be really lucrative for our member companies.”

Cote, Mike. “Life Sciences Trade Group Announces Founding Member Companies.” NH Business Review, 24 Jan. 2024, www.nhbr.com/life-sciences-trade-group-announces-founding-member-companies/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2024.