The Workers Behind Biopharma’s Breakthroughs
When most people think about the life sciences sector, they often picture scientists in white coats working in labs. They rarely picture the ironworker laying the foundation of a new sterile fill-finish facility, or the pipefitter helping commission a cutting-edge biologics plant.
This Manufacturing Day, we're celebrating the builders behind biophrma's breakthroughs.
The biopharmaceutical industry is in the midst of a historic build-out. A recent report from TEConomy partners underscores just how significant the sector's growth has been: the biopharmaceutical industry grew nearly six times faster than the broader manufacturing sector over the last decade, with employment in pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing growing 24% between 2015 and 2024 – more than twice as fast as the overall private sector.
The biopharmaceutical industry is in the midst of a historic build-out. Since the beginning of last year, life sciences companies have committed more than $582 billion in new U.S. investments — expanding manufacturing capacity, opening next-generation research facilities, and reshoring production that once moved overseas.
Behind many of these projects are the skilled construction workers from America’s building trades unions. Estimates from the Pharmaceutical Industry Labor-Management Association, which captures just a snapshot of life sciences construction projects across the country, found these projects generated 65 million labor hours and more than $2.6 billion in wages for union workers.
The scale of that contribution is enormous. Every new manufacturing facility that opens its doors shortens the distance between a scientific breakthrough and the patient who needs it. Every clean room built, every cleanroom HVAC system installed, every utility line run to a new API plant is a contribution towards building the next generation of life-saving therapies.
None of this momentum is guaranteed. China has spent two decades making strategic, government-backed investments to dominate the next era of biomedical leadership — in research, in clinical trials, and in manufacturing. It is closing the gap faster than most anticipated. Meanwhile, U.S. policymakers are weighing policies like most favored nation drug pricing that would undercut the very investment environment driving the construction boom. Fewer investments mean fewer facilities. Fewer facilities mean fewer union construction jobs — and fewer medicines reaching American patients. That is an outcome no policymaker should be willing to accept.
Today, we celebrate the builders. And we call on policymakers to protect the conditions that keep them working: smart policies that support domestic investment, encourage onshoring, and recognize that the race for global leadership in life sciences is inseparable from the race to build the infrastructure to sustain it.