Maryland Leaders Outline Playbook to Grow State's Biotech Ecosystem and Address Healthcare Gaps

Maryland's biotech leaders have laid out a strategic blueprint to retain and attract life sciences companies, as the state simultaneously grapples with stagnant federal funding for critical HIV treatment assistance programs. At a recent ecosystem summit, local leaders discussed a plan for scaling companies, attracting capital, and better integrating Maryland's innovation infrastructure.

Maryland does not lack science, research funding, patents, federal proximity, or world-class research institutions. What it has historically struggled with is converting early promise into companies that scale — and stay in the state. Too many university spinouts ultimately leave Maryland, particularly when they pursue institutional capital or prepare to scale.

Industry leaders noted that university spinout retention rates have improved significantly over time — from roughly 15 percent to closer to 50 percent. But the underlying issue has long been density. Capital and experienced biotech operators remain heavily concentrated in markets like Boston and the Bay Area. Founders gravitate toward ecosystems where there are multiple investors, repeat entrepreneurs, seasoned executives, and visible examples of companies that have scaled successfully.

One panelist, the CEO of Blackbird Laboratories, reframed the retention discussion, arguing that the narrative should shift from defending why companies would stay to projecting conviction about why they should come. The key variable, he argued, is community — repeat founders, operator networks, coordinated programming, aligned incubators, visible exits, and coordinated capital. Without this community, startups feel isolated. With it, founders and investors gain confidence.

Rather than sending Maryland startups outward to chase capital, leaders emphasized a playbook focused on bringing investors into the ecosystem to experience it firsthand. Immersion changes perception, they argued. When investors walk through new lab facilities, meet operators with prior exits, and see coordinated infrastructure across the state, Maryland stops appearing like a feeder system and starts looking investable.

Maryland also possesses a structural differentiator few regions can replicate: direct adjacency to federal power and military health infrastructure. Leaders highlighted the state's potential to capitalize on dual-use innovation — technologies that serve both civilian healthcare and defense needs — as a competitive advantage for growing the bioeconomy.

Meanwhile, at the federal level, funding pressures are mounting for critical healthcare programs. An analysis found that 18 states have limited access to Ryan White AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which help pay for HIV treatments or cover insurance premiums for eligible patients. ADAPs are funded by Congress, but funding has remained stagnant for over a decade even as treatment costs have continued to increase. To reduce program costs, many states have restricted eligibility by income or reduced the number of medications required.