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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Life Sciences Are Flourishing Throughout Kansas

With its strong educational and workforce development programs, Kansas continues to draw life sciences companies.

Q2 2024
Editor's Note: This article was paid for and written by the Kansas Department of Commerce and approved by Area Development.


Kansas has a well-earned reputation as the epicenter of the Animal Health Corridor, the single largest concentration of animal health interests in the world. It’s home to hundreds of companies that research and produce veterinary pharmaceuticals, specialized food for livestock and pets, and more.

Yet Kansas’ success in animal health is just one of its outstanding bioscience accomplishments.

Companies in Kansas specialize in a wide range of biotech and life sciences areas such as medical device manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, liquid biopsy, contract research, consulting, and bioanalysis services. These exceptional opportunities draw more professionals to Kansas, where they develop cutting-edge technologies and treatments that help people, animals, and other living things.

“Investments by so many innovative businesses in Kansas are a testament to my administration’s success in creating a pro-business economy,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “The business growth we’re seeing proves Kansas is a natural fit for biotech and life sciences in particular.”

The business growth we’re seeing proves Kansas is a natural fit for biotech and life sciences in particular. Governor Laura Kelly Companies recognizing Kansas’ advantages that have made investments across the state include Merck Animal Health, with a $100 million facility expansion/enhancement of its U.S. manufacturing site in De Soto; Pfizer’s manufacturing facility in McPherson, a major supplier of sterile injectables used in hospitals globally; Eurofins Viracor, a global leader in clinical diagnostic services, with a 110,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Lenexa; and KCAS Bioanalytical & Biomarker Services, which chose to expand in Kansas with a new, state-of-the-art, 70,000-square-foot bioanalytical facility in Olathe — now among the largest of its kind in the nation.Earlier this month, Governor Kelly attended the groundbreaking of the $302 million Wichita Biomedical Campus, a joint venture between Wichita State University, the University of Kansas, and WSU Tech that will bring 3,000 students, 200 faculty and staff, and 1,600 related jobs to Wichita.

Business also is booming in the Kansas City area, a region that’s a global leader in human and animal health. Bionexus, a nonprofit supporting Kansas City-area biosciences, helps convert emerging technologies from concept to reality. BioKansas, another nonprofit and partner of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, works to attract and retain talent and companies, and grow funding to further improve the business and research climate.

Education/Workforce Development
Kansas’ strong educational system helps fuel success in biotech and life sciences. The University of Kansas has a high-profile drug discovery and development enterprise. The state also boasts historical agricultural leadership at Kansas State University, with Manhattan serving as home to the USDA’s National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.

The University of Kansas and Kansas State University both have dedicated incubators in KU Innovation Park and K-State Innovation Campus, built to serve the biosciences and additional industries.

The Kansas City area is a global leader in human and animal health. The Kansas Department of Commerce and local economic development forces are fostering a strong overall business climate that’s focused on education, technological innovation, and workforce development, which are needed to grow and future-proof the Kansas economy. It’s working in an unprecedented way, with Kansas recently collecting two Governor’s Cups for the most economic development investment per capita of any state in the nation, and four straight Gold Shovels for excellence in attracting high-value investment projects creating a significant number of new jobs, among other national honors.

And Kansas isn’t slowing down. Rather than just keeping up in a rapidly changing world, Kansas has charged to the front with success in biotech/life sciences and beyond. To learn more about the exceptional assets Kansas has to offer your company, please visit kansascommerce.gov.

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