Enquirer Consulting Group

ProtaGene Buyer Map

Prepared for Gareth Sexton | ProtaGene | October 2026

As of Oct 7, 2026

ProtaGene runs analytical work for protein biologics and for cell and gene therapies, from research through to market. The companies developing those drugs are the buyers. This page sizes the US companies running open trials in each group, the US locations in the same industries, and the roles that usually sign off on outside analytical work. It says nothing about which of them ProtaGene already works with.

Companies leading an open cell or gene therapy trial with a US site

230

Industry lead sponsors, open studies.

Companies leading an open biologic drug trial with a US site, cell and gene aside

250

Antibodies, proteins, vaccines and other biologics.

Cell and gene companies whose open trials are all phase 1 or 2

170

No phase 3 open in the US.

Biotech research locations with 10 to 249 staff

1,800

US locations, 2023, contract labs included.

Trials running now

Industry-led studies in the federal trial registry, read on Oct 7, 2026.

Open means recruiting, not yet recruiting, enrolling by invitation or active and no longer recruiting, with at least one US site. A study counts as cell or gene therapy when its intervention is a genetic one or is described in cell or gene therapy terms, so the split between the two rows is approximate. A company with programs in both groups appears in both rows. Some companies have neither an early-phase-only nor a phase 3 profile (a phase 4 study, or no phase given), so the last two columns do not add up to the company count. A combined phase 2 and 3 study counts as phase 3.
Group	Open studies	Companies leading them	Only phase 1 or 2 open	A phase 3 open
Cell and gene therapies	410	230	170	about 60
Other biologics	660	250	170	about 70

US locations in the same industries

US biologic, drug and biotech research locations by staff size, mid-March 2023.

Industry codes are our closest match to each group. One company with ten sites counts ten times. The biotechnology research row also holds contract research organizations and labs that run no drug program of their own.
Group	All locations	Under 10 staff	10 to 49 staff	50 to 249 staff	250+ staff
Biologic product makers	440	170	about 100	about 100	about 80
Drug makers	1,400	570	380	320	180
Biotechnology research and development firms	5,700	3,700	1,200	530	140

What no public count reaches

Two groups this page cannot size, said in words rather than shown as a number.

Programs still in preclinical development, and contract manufacturers. A program shows up in the trial registry only once a study is filed, so programs still before their first trial sit outside the trial counts above, though their labs sit inside the location counts. Contract manufacturers that make biologics and viral vectors for developers are classed with the makers and research firms and cannot be separated from them. Each of these groups is built by name, company by company.

Who signs off

The roles that commonly own or weigh in on the choice of an outside analytical lab. Titles vary by company, and at the smaller ones one person often holds several.

Group	Roles
Cell and gene therapy developers	Head of analytical development, VP of CMC, head of quality control, director of vector or process analytics, head of bioanalytical or translational sciences, head of external manufacturing
Biologic and biosimilar developers	Head of analytical development, director of characterization, VP of CMC, head of quality control, head of biosimilar development, R&D sourcing lead
Smaller biotechs	Chief scientific officer, VP of CMC (often one person covering analytics, process and quality), chief executive officer

Three openings

Where the counts point.

Cell and gene companies with no phase 3 open.

About 170 companies lead open US cell or gene therapy trials, none of them phase 3. Most work with a viral vector or gene-modified cells, and your site lists vector characterization from development through approval and integration site analysis for gene-modified cells. The approach goes to the head of analytical development or CMC at each one.

Companies with a phase 3 open.

About 60 cell and gene companies and about 70 biologic companies have an open US phase 3 trial. These programs are nearest to the lot release and stability work your site lists for biologics, and to approval, after which your site's commercial patient testing applies. These are the short lists to work by name.

Smaller biotechs, where few people decide.

About 1,200 US biotechnology research locations have 10 to 49 staff, a count that also holds contract labs and firms with no drug program. At a drug developer that size, outside analytical work often sits with the chief scientific officer or one CMC lead, so fewer people stand between a note and the decision.

Denominators, definitions and sources

Trial counts come from the federal trial registry, read on Oct 7, 2026. They count interventional studies with an intervention of the registry's genetic or biological type, that are open and name at least one US site, and whose lead sponsor is industry. Company names are matched after removing legal suffixes, so a company listed under two spellings, or a parent and its subsidiary, may count twice.
Location counts are establishments in the federal annual count of business establishments by industry, 2023, national file, all legal forms. An establishment is one physical location with paid employees. Staff is paid employees at the location in the mid-March 2023 pay period. Where the file withholds a size cell, the withheld locations are recovered as the group total less the published cells.
Industry codes 325414 biological product manufacturing, except diagnostic; 325412 pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing; 541714 research and development in biotechnology, except nanobiotechnology.
Built from public registries, counts banded deliberately. Figures of 100 and over are rounded to two significant figures, figures from 10 to 99 to the nearest ten.

The named version of this page, the actual companies inside a row, is built one row at a time. If you want to walk through a row together, pick a time at cal.com/ecg. Prepared by Ben Beattie, ben@enquirerconsulting.com.

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