Skip to content
Known as “America’s Medicine Cabinet,” Puerto Rico is working to maintain its leadership in U.S. biotech production by becoming a hub for reshoring pharmaceutical manufacturing.
During a March 10-12 visit, BIO President & CEO John F. Crowley learned about the unique strengths and advantages of the biotech ecosystem of Puerto Rico, which already produces nearly a fifth of U.S. drug exports, more than any state in the Union.
“Puerto Rico has long been a cornerstone of America’s biotechnology manufacturing base, and today the island is building on that legacy in powerful ways,” Crowley said. “Recent significant manufacturing expansion announcements from companies like Amgen and Eli Lilly, representing billions of dollars in investment and growth, illustrate the industry’s recognition that Puerto Rico is the destination for reshoring and onshoring of American manufacturing and strengthening of our national security.”
Crowley was leading a delegation from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) in the latest learning tour of BIO On The American Road, hosted by INDUNIV, the BIO affiliate in Puerto Rico. They made stops at Amgen’s manufacturing facility and the cutting-edge Molecular Sciences Research Center of the University of Puerto Rico—and met with leaders helping drive Puerto Rico’s remarkable biotech sector, including patient advocacy groups.
Maintaining a strong global position
“We have the greatest density of pharmaceutical and medical device companies in the world,” said Ivan Lugo, Executive Director of INDUNIV. Puerto Rico’s pharma industry supplies the U.S. as well as 120 other countries around the world, he said. The pharma business accounts for about 30% of Puerto Rico’s total GDP.
“Biotech represents around 94,000 jobs on the island, and if we add the induced jobs in the economy, it’s 150,000 jobs out of the one million that we have in Puerto Rico,” Lugo said. “We are the single largest pharmaceutical exporter in the U.S. with more than $54 billion in exports.”
Lugo’s organization, INDUNIV, was formed in 1984 to bring together industry, academia, researchers, and the government to support the island’s biotech ecosystem. INDUNIV’s activities include: catalyzing a specialized workforce and innovation infrastructure; business development and promotion of Puerto Rico within the industry; government relations; and building a globally competitive ecosystem.
Ensuring the island’s biotech ecosystem is globally competitive is also a major goal of Puerto Rico’s government, according to Sebastián Negrón Reichard, Secretary of Puerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development & Commerce. He said a fiscal crisis in the previous decade, COVID, and a hurricane had all hampered Puerto Rico’s growth, but the island has shown its resilience and remains a “powerhouse in the biosciences sector, offering a legacy of excellence.”
“In the last year, Puerto Rico has regained its competitive spot in attracting investment with determined efforts to enable reshoring,” he said. “Companies weighing their reshoring strategies now see Puerto Rico as a great opportunity. We have the talent, we have the incentives, and now we’re playing very aggressively.”
The government’s actions to attract businesses include efforts to ensure a strong talent pool through industry-university roundtables and the governor’s 2025 executive order on reshoring, which includes particular mention of pharma.
An additional attraction for biotech is the territory’s 50% R&D tax credit, the highest in the U.S. An Executive Concierge, appointed by Negrón’s department to assist business moving to Puerto Rico, recently helped attract Taiwan’s first U.S.-based drug manufacturer. Meanwhile, Negrón said, “the companies that are already here know and love us.”
Crowley observed the island’s advantages. “Through sustained investments in workforce development, cutting-edge research infrastructure, and strong partnerships between industry, academia, and government, Puerto Rico is positioning itself as one of the most dynamic biotech ecosystems in the United States,” he said.
Pro-growth federal tax policies have also enabled more investments. For example, Eli Lilly, in October announced a $1.2 billion investment to expand and modernize their production facility in Carolina, PR. And in September, Amgen announced a $650 million expansion that will add hundreds of jobs at its Juncos, PR site, the company’s largest commercial operation and the largest pharma manufacturing site on the island, bringing Amgen’s cumulative investment in the facility since its launch to about $5 billion.
Amgen still growing after three decades
The Amgen facility in Juncos was a major stop for Crowley and the BIO on the American Road contingent.
Amgen launched operations in Puerto Rico in 1992, part of an effort by the company to expand its network beyond California, according to a statement by the company.
“Puerto Rico offered several advantages: a highly skilled, bilingual workforce with decades of pharmaceutical manufacturing experience; strong academic infrastructure; a business-friendly environment; and full U.S. FDA jurisdiction,” said Thomas Seewoester, Vice-President and Site Head.
Amgen’s $650 million expansion plan shows the company is still bullish on Puerto Rico.
“This expansion is designed to increase drug production capacity at the site and bring advanced manufacturing technologies into the operations,” Seewoester said. “Amgen leadership has emphasized that this investment reflects the company’s long-standing commitment to U.S. biomanufacturing and global supply chain resilience, and underscores confidence in Puerto Rico’s skilled workforce and infrastructure.”
“When a company invests at that scale, it does more than create jobs—it builds capability. Our campus integrates advanced manufacturing technologies, process development, quality systems, and global supply chain operations. That creates high-value technical roles and deep expertise locally,” Seewoester said.
The company said it also works to increase capacity by partnering with the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) system and other educational institutions.
Amgen’s education initiatives in Puerto Rico include Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE), which seeks to interest secondary-school students in science, and the Amgen BioTalents program at UPRM, which exposes science and engineering students to biomanufacturing and innovation in STEM.
The UPR system’s contribution
BIO’s contingent met with members of UPR, a vital partner in the island’s biotech ecosystem, when the tour visited the university’s Molecular Sciences Research Center, a 152,000 square-foot advanced research facility with laboratories focused on translational biomedical research. The center houses more than 300 researchers, students, and technicians. Its stated mission is to “develop competitive scientific research with high social and economic value to position the UPR and Puerto Rico as key players in molecular sciences research and innovation worldwide.”
The center is just one of the ways the 11-campus UPR system is encouraging biotech in Puerto Rico, according to Dr. Zayira Jordán-Conde, UPR President.
“The University of Puerto Rico is proud to contribute to the advancement of biotechnology through research, innovation, and workforce development,” she said. “Biotechnology at the University of Puerto Rico operates as an ecosystem across our campuses, bringing together science, engineering, and research to prepare the workforce that supports this industry. Strengthening that talent pipeline—from early education to the workforce—is one of our top priorities.”
Dr. Jordán, who became head of UPR only about eight months ago, said she is putting a new focus on providing talent to serve the island’s biotech industry, including by meeting CEOs to hear their needs. “The university has good connections with the local industry. One of our priorities is strengthening those connections,” she explained.
“I am looking to diversify our income streams, and one way to do that is to serve industry with courses designed to meet their skills needs,” said Dr. Jordán. She added that bespoke courses designed for private firms also serve UPR graduates, who will be better equipped to find well-paid skilled employment on the island.
PR Science Trust: Research, incubator, clinical trials, patient advocacy
The final stop on BIO’s tour of Puerto Rico was the PR BioTech Hub, a federally designated effort to advance the region as a global leader in biotechnology.
“With initiatives like the PRBio Tech Hub accelerating innovation and commercialization, the island is becoming an increasingly attractive destination where biotechnology startups can launch, grow, and thrive,” Crowley observed.
The Hub is led by the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust, a private nonprofit organization with a public service mission to invest in, facilitate, and build the capabilities that drive innovation and advance Puerto Rico’s economy and overall well-being. Established by the Puerto Rican government in 2004, the Trust convenes government, industry, academia, and the public sector to translate science and research into tangible impact.
Remarking on the visit, Luz A. Crespo, CEO of the Trust, emphasized the value of the dialogue with BIO leadership:
“Welcoming BIO and its leadership to the PR Science Trust was an important opportunity to showcase how Puerto Rico is aligning research, innovation, and public health to strengthen the global biotechnology ecosystem,” Crespo said. “These conversations help position the island as a strategic partner for collaboration, investment, and clinical research.”
The Trust advances Puerto Rico’s innovation agenda through: grants for innovation; support of entrepreneurship, including its biotechnology incubator; serving as a public health institute; and promoting STEM education and workforce development, she said. Given the importance of biotechnology to Puerto Rico’s economy, much of the research, commercialization, and education supported by the Trust focuses on biotechnology, life sciences, precision medicine, and biomanufacturing, according to Crespo.
The Trust’s public health initiatives are closely aligned with the priorities of the biotechnology sector, including efforts to simplify and reshore the clinical trial process—an objective long advocated by BIO and other industry stakeholders.
“Our Puerto Rico Consortium for Clinical Investigation (PRCCI) was built precisely to address that challenge,” Crespo said. “PRCCI functions as a one‑stop platform for clinical research in Puerto Rico—from feasibility assessment through trial implementation and management. This significantly reduces friction, shortens timelines, and improves execution quality.”
Coordinating clinical trials locally also has a direct impact on patients.
“Patients are at the center of our clinical research strategy,” Crespo said. PRCCI enables Puerto Rican patients to participate in innovative therapies without having to leave the island—an especially important consideration for Hispanic populations, who remain underrepresented in global clinical research.
In addition, the Trust works in collaboration with approximately 20 local patient organizations, further strengthening the connection between research, care, and community.
