As Life Sciences Chases Recovery, DFW Aims To Attract More Corporations And Capital
While many of the nation’s top life sciences markets aren't the healthiest, Dallas-Fort Worth’s momentum in the sector could push the metro past its own hurdles.
DFW has experienced slow but steady growth in the sector, even as demand for lab space has stabilized nationally and the pipeline of new construction has waned. With an abundance of available land, the region has piqued the interest of multinational life sciences corporations and seen more cities in the metro embrace the sector.
“DFW is an emerging market, and we have continued to strongly emerge,” CBRE Vice President Chelsea Story said.
Life sciences companies find DFW attractive because it offers a centralized airport and easy access to utilities like power and water. Plus, the region has “more land than they can shake a stick at” and less regulation than companies are used to in many of the sector’s larger markets, Story said.
However, DFW’s life sciences market trails significantly behind the sector’s heaviest hitters like Boston and San Francisco, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield's February life sciences update. Both of those metros offer around 10 times as much lab space and life sciences jobs as North Texas does.
The region is near the top of the sector’s emerging markets, but it also trails Costa Rica and Indianapolis. Those emerging markets each have more than double the lab space of DFW and significantly higher employment numbers.
But an influx of capital aims to continue DFW’s growth and help the region overcome life sciences’ ailments.
Measured Growth
DFW has avoided overdevelopment, instead growing on an “as-needed” basis in response to consistent demand, according to Story.
The development of the 26-acre Pegasus Park mixed-use campus by Lyda Hill Philanthropies and J. Small Investments in 2021 spurred growth in the sector. Pegasus Park became an innovation hub for life sciences and biotech companies emerging in part from DFW’s myriad top-tier research institutions.
Schools like the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Texas at Dallas have produced a life sciences-specialized workforce that continues to attract companies from around the world. CBRE received three times as many inquiries about manufacturing space in 2025 as in years past, according to Story.
But the sector has also faced challenges in recent months.
In January, New Mexico-based NTx Bio paused plans for a $31M biomanufacturing facility it had announced would be part of Plano's planned Texas Research Quarter life sciences district. As with many companies in the sector, NTx Bio is taking a “disciplined approach” to capital deployment, growth and expansion, CEO Joan Haab said in a statement to Bisnow.
“We continue to view North Texas as an attractive life sciences market, and we’ll share more as our plans evolve,” Haab said.
The future of the Texas Research Quarter is also unknown after AT&T announced plans to move its global headquarters to the Plano campus where the district was to be established. DFW developer NexPoint didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment on the status of the 4M SF project.
Research And Development
Research and development transaction activity in DFW was down last year, but venture capital remains interested in the metro.
The region’s 2025 sales activity of $243M was less than half its total from the year before, according to Cushman & Wakefield's report. However, venture capital and initial public offering funding increased across emerging markets throughout 2025, with DFW leading the way.
The metro's top 10 deals surpassed $771M in venture capital and IPO funding, according to the report.
As the availability of capital has grown over the last year, DFW's rise as a life sciences hub has become more pronounced, according to Matt Crommett, managing director at Lyda Hill Philanthropies and LH Capital.
“We've never seen so much interest from life sciences venture capital funds — from really all around the world — wanting to visit the region and meet with scientists and startup companies that are based here,” Crommett said.
Life sciences companies are also increasingly looking to DFW for talent, as Cushman & Wakefield’s report showed job postings increased in the metro during 2025. That is something none of the sector's top markets could boast.
In addition to UT Southwestern and UT Dallas, North Texas higher education institutions like the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University have provided a decadeslong foundation of world-class science education, Crommett said.
UNT Dallas opened its $100M science, technology, engineering and math facility late last year as part of an effort to strengthen North Texas’ healthcare and science workforce pipeline. And in Denton, Texas Woman’s University unveiled a new $107M Health Science Center last month.
There is high demand for bioengineering degrees throughout the region, and UT Dallas’ program has grown steadily since its inception 15 years ago, according to Jenny Mizutowicz, the university’s director of economic development and sustainability liaison.
“People are getting these degrees to go work at biotech companies, to design medical devices, to go produce pharmaceuticals,” Mizutowicz said.
DFW’s R&D opportunities are likely to stay near Pegasus Park and the region’s universities, Story said.
“They help to challenge one another, and a lot of times they draft off one another's success, in both funding and in innovation,” Story said.
But strong R&D will also lead to manufacturing opportunities.
Manufacturing Capabilities
With an abundance of developable land, North Texas cities have benefited from the manufacturing needs of home-grown startups and international pharmaceutical companies seeking to onshore production.
As part of a $50B investment in its U.S. footprint, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca last year announced plans to expand its specialty manufacturing capabilities in Coppell.
India-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Stallion Labs also announced plans last year for a 200K SF headquarters campus in Mansfield. And Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis found a site in Denton for a radioligand therapy manufacturing facility earlier this year.
“These large pharmaceutical companies really drive each other to come into the market and to further look at the market,” Story said. “They want to know, ‘What are they missing by not being here?’”
Those corporations will also attract secondary manufacturers that assist in pharmaceutical development and work with larger R&D firms, she said
While Novartis' purchase was a perfect fit for the company due to its previous tenant also being a pharmaceutical company, Denton Economic Development Director Brittany Sotelo said there are plenty of other opportunities in North Texas.
“Since we have land, there's opportunities to recruit more pharmaceutical companies and other life science companies that are wanting to own land,” Sotelo said.
Mansfield is also leaning into efforts to attract life sciences companies, said Rachel Bagley, the city's economic development assistant director. Mansfield's innovation district, The LinQ, is set to have a “Tier 1 university campus” that will offer life sciences-focused undergrad and graduate degrees.
“That’s going to help fuel the research and the broader ecosystem,” said Bagley, who couldn’t yet reveal the university to be associated with the project.
The city is also developing the 17-acre Mansfield Innovation Community that will eventually boast 300K SF of office and lab space.
With the region’s availability of existing projects, undeveloped land and strong partnerships with higher education institutions, Bagley said it is on pace to continue its ascension in the sector.
“We're really very strategically positioned to be one of the top life sciences ecosystems in the country, if not the world,” Bagley said. “It’ll be interesting to see what the next five years look like.”
