For decades, Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, have been as synonymous with the biotech industry as Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, has been with agriculture. But while Greater Boston’s biotech industry is suffering from layoffs and empty lab space, Lancaster is experiencing a life sciences building boom, propelled by an $800 million expansion from GSK.

“We have a very strong and diverse manufacturing economy here. From an employment perspective, our economy is really driven by manufacturing [and] healthcare,” said Ezra Rothman, president of the economic development organization EDC Lancaster County.

While traditional biotech hubs like Greater Boston aren’t likely to lose their dominance anytime soon — MassBio reported that Massachusetts biotech companies saw a nearly 14% increase in drug candidates in 2025, compared with 6.8% nationally — other regions are emerging as unlikely hotspots.  

“I would consider, obviously, your major markets, but [take] other places like Lancaster County, under serious consideration because there's momentum toward this ecosystem building and growing here,” Rothman said.

Here are three hubs to watch:

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Horse and buggies are a familiar sight in Lancaster County.

“A lot of people know us for our agricultural heritage and our relatively high proportion of Amish folks,” Rothman said.

That agricultural heritage is why the region has been a vaccine manufacturer for more than a century and a half. In 1882, the Lancaster County Vaccine Farm began producing the smallpox vaccine, and today, GlaxoSmithKline continues that tradition.

“The GSK site, which has gone through a couple of owners, was a vaccine farm back in the day when vaccines were produced from animals,” Rothman said.

GSK is expanding its already substantial presence in Lancaster with an $800 million project that will include additional vaccine and other manufacturing facilities. GSK isn’t alone. Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories is also planning to build out its biopharmaceutical product testing operations there.

While both projects received significant investment from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Rothman also counts among its strengths the region’s proximity to Philadelphia, its educational institutions, quality of life and early plans to build an innovation hub.

“We've developed a workforce and reputation,” he said. “You layer on the vibrancy of Lancaster City, proximity to major markets, and then the affordability of this community within the context of increasing momentum in the Commonwealth, and you start to have something.”

Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City is not only home to companies like Cytovance Biologics, Wheeler Bio and CytoGrowth Solutions but the vice chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology has also called Oklahoma a “blueprint” for implementing public-private partnerships in biotech.  

Now, the region is aiming to grow the biotech workforce from the ground up. That effort has been bolstered by significant investments over the past several years, including a $35 million U.S. Economic Development Administration grant in 2022 to the Oklahoma Biotech Innovation Cluster and the establishment of the nonprofit Oklahoma City Innovation District.

In addition to the University of Oklahoma Health Campus and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, the University of Oklahoma Bioprocessing Core Facility aims to train advanced engineers and scientists and connect academia and industry.

There’s also Oklahoma Biotech Innovation Cluster’s own training program, BioTC, a short-term training program that’s tailored to the specific needs of biotechnology facilities and awards scholarships to low-income people.

Las Vegas

Most people come to Las Vegas for casinos, entertainment and maybe even a quick wedding, but the city is thinking beyond the Vegas Strip by positioning itself as an up-and-coming biotech hub.

It already counts biotechs like Heligenics, GenBioPro and PharmaCyte Biotech among the companies with operations there, and it’s actively courting and developing more. There’s also the professional organization, BioTech Vegas.  

Earlier this year, Roseman University of Health Sciences launched Roseman Bioventures, a 120,000-square-foot life science incubator for startups and emerging companies, complete with lab space and research infrastructure, as well as access to regulatory guidance and connections to investors and industry partners.

“Las Vegas offers lower operating costs, access to talent and a growing support network for life sciences companies,” Jeff Talbot, vice president for research and dean of the College of Graduate Studies at Roseman University of Health Sciences, told BioPharm International last month.

He added that Roseman Bioventures already has eight resident companies and has “received interest from hundreds of organizations” since opening.