Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley: A Geographically Distributed and Expanding Life Science Ecosystem

Abstract

Philadelphia has been considered by many to be the birthplace of the modern US pharmaceutical industry with Merck & Co. Inc.’s research division Merck Research Labs [originally called MSDRL] based in West Point and GSK’s primary US labs [originally SKF] now based in Collegeville. The City of Philadelphia is also home to two of the oldest medical schools in the US: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania founded in 1765 and the Sydney Kimmel Medical College [formerly Jefferson Medical College] founded in 1824. The conjunction of those two touchpoints along with the other big pharma players, e.g., Johnson & Johnson/Janssen and emerging biotech entities in the wider Delaware Valley region is significant. Also noteworthy is the presence of other research intensive universities such as Drexel University, Temple University, Jefferson University and research institutes such as the Wistar Institute, Fox Chase Cancer Center [associated with Temple University School of Medicine], Lankenau Institute, Monell Chemical Senses Center and the Coriell Institute in Southern New Jersey.