Lack of labs stalls life sciences startups in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico lacks the infrastructure for local scientists to commercialize their work, hindering their ability to go into business and pushing them to seek resources abroad, according to industry sources.
“Infrastructure is the biggest hurdle for scientists in Puerto Rico who want to commercialize their work,” Noe Crespo, director of BioLeap, Parallel 18’s life science startup incubator, told News is my Business. “We don’t have labs where they can conduct their experiments.”
Although Puerto Rico hosts various pharmaceutical companies, these are manufacturing operations whose research and development facilities are on the U.S. mainland, not on the island, he said.
Crespo, who also is Parallel 18’s associate director, said his organization has had conversations with the Department of Economic Development and Commerce on the subject.
“We tell them that those companies and their manufacturing operations can pack their bags and leave the island any time, so we need to have the infrastructure here to create R&D and intellectual property that can stay in Puerto Rico and generate jobs in the future,” he said.
“They know there’s a need for this type of infrastructure, but, understandably, they’re going for the low-hanging fruit, which is amplifying the manufacturing workforce to support the manufacturing companies,” Crespo added.
Bioengineer Jorge Castro, founder of Ihnnova — a BioLeap alumnus who is commercializing a treatment for lower-to-intermediate risk prostate cancer patients — had to persuade his alma mater, the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, to let him conduct his experiments there.
“Early-stage startups have to rely on this kind of agreement with universities, which can be a headache,” Crespo said.
The U.S. mainland and Europe are like “Disney” for scientists seeking to commercialize their work, Castro said.
“Europe is hugely different [from here]. They have these amazing lab spaces, with all the equipment you need for experiments and prototype testing,” he said.
There are three types of infrastructure stateside scientists can use, Castro explained. “Universities create lab spaces because it’s in their interest that projects that started there get commercialized, because they get royalties. There are also independent entities that create these spaces and rent them. A third scenario consists of pharmaceutical companies seeking technology they can include in their portfolios, so they create spaces that allow startups to come and interact with their R&D scientists.”
These choices prompt local scientists to go abroad to commercialize their work. “We just don’t have the lab infrastructure, and that limits the work we can do,” Castro said.
U.S. and European universities have significant lab infrastructure and dedicated technology transfer offices (TTOs) to help scientists commercialize projects through licensing, patents, spin-offs and partnerships with industry or investors, according to multiple reports.
U.S. research universities typically offer resources such as intellectual property protection, market analysis and funding for TTOs and proof-of-concept, which closes the gap between basic research and viable products.
Many universities also host or partner with incubators and science parks to offer labs, office space and business support for startups and have entrepreneur-in-residence programs that bring in experienced entrepreneurs to guide commercialization efforts.
BioLeap is the first specialized incubator program in Puerto Rico to help researchers and professors think of their projects as startups, Crespo said.
“We offer a business course for scientists to help them become aware that they can commercialize their work by developing products or services that can benefit society,” he said.
Last year, BioLeap collaborated with entrepreneurs to design a course for the University of Puerto Rico that piloted this year and will officially kick off in January. “It’s the first time that students will have access to this course at the UPR’s Río Piedras, Medical Sciences and Mayagüez campuses,” Crespo said.
“Puerto Rico has very few startups in the life sciences compared to the U.S. mainland. If we have more startups and more capital in this field, these startups are more likely to stay and hire people in Puerto Rico,” he added.
Life sciences comprise industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The biotech industry alone was valued at about $1.8 trillion in 2025 and is projected to reach between $5.4 trillion and $5.8 trillion by 2035, growing at a compound annual growth rate of about 14%, according to various market research firms.
