STAT+: After a years-long slump, Massachusetts biopharma sector has come roaring back in 2026

According to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council's annual industry snapshot, Massachusetts' biopharma workforce declined by 3.1% in 2025 to 113,503 employees, a loss of roughly 3,600 workers — the first year-over-year decrease since at least 2002. The report attributes the decline to industry headwinds and uncertainty over federal scientific research funding.

Many lab buildings in Greater Boston, originally expected to fill with scientists during the pandemic-era venture capital boom, now stand empty, a symbol of what former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan called 'irrational exuberance.'