South Carolina’s life sciences industry is booming, bringing with it wage and employment growth and economic expansion.
“South Carolina’s life sciences industry is really no longer a story about potential, what it could be. It’s really a story about momentum,” James Chappell, president of SCbio, told the audience at February’s SCbio Life + Science Conference, held at the Gaillard Center in Charleston. “It’s real momentum, it’s measurable momentum, and more and more, it’s nationally recognized momentum.”
The annual conference, which celebrates the biotech industry in South Carolina, featured sessions on workforce development, women’s health, life sciences breakthroughs, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and more.
Dozens of experts offered insights on what their organizations are doing in the field, and awards were presented to individuals and companies that are making a difference in the industry.
The Pinnacle Award, given for individual contributions to South Carolina’s life sciences industry, was presented to Dave Shalaby, president of Poly-Med, located in Anderson. The Rising Star Award, which honors an individual under 40 for their work, was presented to Leo Ferreira, an assistant professor in the Pharmacology and Immunology Department at MUSC. Ferreira, founder and CEO of Torpedo Bio, is the holder of 10 patents.
And the Pinnacle Award for Organizational Contribution, given to a company that has demonstrated visionary leadership, was presented to The Ritedose Corporation.
Chappell praised the industry for the progress it has made in both the state and the wider world.
“We see more and more that our industry is resilient, it’s competitive, and it is increasingly visible. And we’re not just keeping pace with this growth. In a lot of ways, we’re beginning to set it,” he said.
For the first time, the various components of biotech – from industry to academia, workforce to policy – are coming together in South Carolina, Chappell said. That alignment helps to accelerate the industry’s growth.
“All of this isn’t just wishful thinking. It’s rooted in data,” he said.
In South Carolina, annual employment growth in the life sciences industry is 5.7 percent, the highest in the Southeast and one of the highest rates in the country, Chappell said. North Carolina and Florida are in second place for the Southeast, with 3.9 percent growth.
And the growth is reflected in financial terms for individual workers. The average annual wage for a life sciences worker in the Palmetto State is $102,000, which is 70 percent higher than the state’s average wage, he said.
“Not surprisingly, manufacturing continues to be the anchor of all this growth in South Carolina. And we see that global leaders aren’t just locating here, they’re expanding here. SHL Medical, for example, right here in Charleston, invested $220 million to build a world-class drug-delivery facility serving pharmaceutical partners worldwide. They’ve created 300 jobs,” Chappell said.
He cited other examples of companies making an impact, including Florence’s GE Healthcare and Columbia’s Ritedose, which are expanding and “reinforcing South Carolina’s reputation for precision, quality, and reliability.”
The Palmetto State has a rich trove of research institutions, including Clemson University, University of South Carolina, and Medical University of South Carolina, which are helping to boost the state’s profile in life sciences and biotech.
Chappell said that while the life sciences industry has benefited South Carolina’s economy, it has also had an undeniable human impact.
The work done by these companies has meant “lives extended, lives improved, lives saved.”
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