Biotech companies in Los Angeles: big biologics plants, Orange County drugmakers and four research universities

This report is for job seekers, investors, partners and suppliers who want the biotech companies around Los Angeles. The Census metro is Los Angeles and Orange counties, from Pasadena and Westwood to Irvine and Aliso Viejo. Ventura County, home to Amgen, is a separate metro.

How many biotech companies are in Los Angeles

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area (CBSA 31080), NAICS 541714 (biotech research and development) and 325414 (biological product manufacturing):

The county employee totals were published but flagged: the Census Bureau's confidentiality noise moved them by 5% or more, so use the metro total. CBP counts each payroll location separately and skips the self-employed.

Labs and plants

The two codes behave very differently here:

The R&D labs average about 31 employees; the biologics plants about 206 (our calculation). One in three biotech jobs in the metro is in a factory, a much higher share than in San Diego or Boston.

The combined size table is withheld except for the smallest class: 166 establishments have 1 to 4 employees. The R&D code is published in more detail:

The two largest classes aren't published; 2 is the total less the published cells.

What the codes miss

Drug developers with no lab of their own, diagnostics makers (325413), drug plants (325412) and contract testing labs (541380) all fall outside these codes, as do hospitals and universities. Biocom California's 2026 Economic Impact Report, using a broad life-sciences definition, counts 85,940 direct life-science jobs in greater Los Angeles in 2025.

Listed biotechs headquartered in the metro

SEC EDGAR lists 24 listed companies with a business address in Los Angeles or Orange County in SIC 2834 (pharmaceutical preparations, 18) and 2836 (biological products, 6). From their latest 10-Ks:

Arrowhead's fiscal year ended 30 September 2025; the others are calendar 2025. Employees as of 31 December 2025 unless dated; blank where we didn't take a figure.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics ($376.1 million of 2025 revenue) and Genelux give Westlake Village addresses in ZIP code 91361, which lies mostly in Ventura County, so they may sit just outside the metro. Amgen, in Thousand Oaks, reported $36,751.0 million of revenue and $7,272.0 million of R&D for 2025. Vyome Holdings has an Orange County address in EDGAR but a Cambridge, Massachusetts, headquarters in its 10-K, and Entera Bio, whose Jerusalem postal code can match a California ZIP, is headquartered in Israel; both are left out.

The table splits in two. Tarsus, Evolus and Puma sell products and spend little on R&D; Arrowhead and Xencor spend heavily on research. In this table, the Orange County companies with revenue are commercial sellers, while Pasadena's two spend heavily on research.

Where biologics are made

Biologics sites show up in one of two FDA registries: the cell and tissue registry run by FDA's biologics center, or the drug establishment file used by other biologics makers.

• Drug establishment registry: 217 registrations in the metro, 160 with manufacturing operations. Biologics registrants include Kite Pharma in El Segundo, Baxalta US in Los Angeles and Van Nuys, Grifols Biologicals in Los Angeles and City of Industry, and Avid Bioservices in Tustin.
• Cell and tissue registry: 19 metro establishments are registered for blood stem cell or peripheral blood mononuclear cell products, including City of Hope in Duarte, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, UCLA and USC transplant programs, Children's Hospital of Orange County, and companies such as HemaCare in Northridge and Pacific Science BioPharma Services in El Segundo.

Companies making only investigational products don't register until approval, so early-stage trial manufacturing isn't in either file.

Research funding

NIH RePORTER shows $1.63 billion of NIH awards to 112 organizations in the metro in fiscal 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), across 2,554 projects. UCLA received $518.2 million, USC $365.7 million, UC Irvine $236.0 million, Cedars-Sinai $112.2 million, City of Hope's Beckman Research Institute $83.0 million and Caltech $70.2 million. Companies received 100 awards worth $71.1 million, 91 of them small-business (SBIR or STTR) grants, led by Chromologic in Monrovia ($5.4 million) and Trethera in Sherman Oaks ($5.1 million).

Local organizations

• BioscienceLA describes itself as an independent nonprofit formed by Los Angeles County in 2018 to coordinate the county's life sciences ecosystem, and runs events and BioscienceLA Week.
• Biocom California has a Greater Los Angeles office, a member directory and a job board.

Selling to LA biotech

Worked example: a cleanroom garment service

Illustrative example. The firm, headcounts per site and prices are invented; the plant count comes from CBP and FDA's file.

Arroyo Cleanwear (arroyoclean.example) rents and launders sterile cleanroom garments.

1. Size the base. The 18 biologics plants employ 3,710 people. If 40% work in gowned areas, that's about 1,480 people.
2. Do the arithmetic. At three gown changes a week and $6 a change, the market is about $26,600 a week, or $1.4 million a year. Two mid-sized plants would be a solid first year.
3. Find the buyer. Contamination control or cleanroom operations managers own the spec; procurement runs the tender.

Matching each registered site to its operations lead is the slow part. Bebop finds matching companies and contacts and drafts the outreach.

See the largest biotech companies for Amgen and the national leaders, and companies in Los Angeles for the wider economy.

Next step: compare a research-led California cluster in biotech companies in San Diego.