Fourteen years after Connecticut approved one of its largest bioscience investments to lure The Jackson Laboratory to Farmington, the nonprofit research institute has met its hiring commitments and expanded its research operations in the state, but fallen short of some commercialization expectations tied to the deal.
The Bar Harbor, Maine-based organization received roughly $290 million in state support, including nearly $192 million in loans that were later forgiven after it exceeded hiring targets. But Connecticut has yet to receive any royalty payments from intellectual property developed at the facility, and direct startup creation tied to the lab has been limited.
Still, JAX President and CEO Lon Cardon said the organization’s decision to establish a genomic medicine research center in Connecticut was a smart long-term move.
“I thought it was brilliant what JAX did 14 years ago, to put a human-based arm of research” between Maine and New York, Cardon said recently. “I just think it was a stroke of genius, because we needed the platforms, that focus, that scientific outlet, and we’re only going to build on that.”
Economic impact
JAX signed an agreement with then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in January 2012 to develop The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine next to the UConn Health Center in Farmington.
Under the deal, the state agreed to provide nearly $291 million in support for the project, including a $191.7 million forgivable loan to build and equip a 185,000-square-foot research facility and $99 million in grants paid over 10 years to support annual operating expenses and bioscience research.
In exchange, JAX committed to creating at least 300 jobs in Connecticut within 10 years, including 90 senior scientist positions.
The lab also agreed to share royalties from intellectual property developed at the facility. The state would receive 10% of net royalties up to $3 million and 50% of royalties above that threshold.
The Farmington facility opened in 2014, and by 2018 the state announced JAX had exceeded its employment targets, reaching 385 workers at the time. Records from Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public venture capital investment arm that administered the deal, show the full $191.7 million construction loan tied to the project was ultimately disbursed and forgiven after JAX met its hiring obligations.
JAX said its Connecticut operations employ 439 people, including 180 remote workers, 47 of whom live in the state. Of the 259 on-site employees, 98 are research faculty.
Cardon said the nonprofit has reduced staffing through attrition amid uncertainty surrounding federal research funding, a key revenue source, but did not conduct layoffs. He said he expects Connecticut staffing to grow by 5% to 10% over time.
A 2011 economic analysis prepared by a former state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) economist projected JAX would directly employ 430 people in Connecticut by 2025 and 457 by 2026. The report also projected the broader initiative would support roughly 6,600 permanent jobs statewide when indirect economic effects were included.
Published shortly before lawmakers approved the JAX deal during a 2011 special legislative session, the DECD analysis was intended to help build support for the investment. Legislative approval of the subsidy package largely fell along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans raising concerns about the size of the state commitment.
The report further projected the facility would help generate more than 3,300 spinoff jobs by 2026 and more than 4,000 by 2031. Those numbers include jobs created by startups, as well as positions tied to companies relocating to, or expanding in Connecticut because of JAX’s presence.
So far, the state has not received any royalty payments from JAX, according to Connecticut Innovations, which said it is unaware of any currently in development.
Meanwhile, over its 12 years in Connecticut, JAX has produced two spinout companies, with mixed results.
The first, Boundless Bio, was formed in 2018 and is now based in San Diego. The company develops cancer therapies and raised $100 million through an initial public offering in March 2024. Across three funding rounds, it has raised more than $256 million.
In January, Boundless Bio said federal regulators cleared its oral cancer therapy, BBI-940, for human testing.
JAX’s second spinout, Farmington-based General Biomics Inc., was formed in 2022 to develop microbiome technology aimed at improving early disease detection in newborns.
The company’s co-founder, George Weinstock, died in November 2023, and the startup has since ceased operations.
Cardon said there are no additional spinouts currently in the pipeline, though he believes future opportunities exist.
He said JAX’s Connecticut operations have generated an estimated $1.3 billion economic impact since arriving in the state, arguing the organization has delivered significant value beyond commercialization metrics.
Research advances
Farmington is “a great complement” to the nonprofit’s other sites — which include locations in New York, California, Florida and Japan — because of its proximity to the UConn School of Medicine, Cardon said.
Since opening in Farmington, Cardon said JAX has expanded its research initiatives in several areas.
It has partnered with UConn to develop what Cardon described as one of the world’s largest databases focused on endometriosis, a condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere in the body. The organization is also building a large tissue repository to support additional research into the disease.
“It hasn’t had, really, the attention that it deserves,” Cardon said.
JAX is also promoting expanded genetic testing for newborns to identify rare diseases earlier.
Cardon said there are between 7,000 and 10,000 rare diseases that can often be detected early through genetic testing, but widespread newborn screening has not been broadly adopted.
“It’s a real crime, because all the tools are there to do it,” he said. “We can detect them early with genetic testing almost perfectly, but we don’t do that as a society.”
Connecticut last year launched a newborn screening program that makes rapid genetic testing available for critically ill newborns covered by Medicaid.
“It’s right in our wheelhouse to advance that sort of technology,” Cardon said.
JAX is also focused on developing new models for studying human disease, with ambitions to become a global leader in testing therapies using advanced human-based models.
The organization’s Maine headquarters primarily focuses on animal-based studies, but Cardon said JAX is increasingly expanding into human-cell and artificial intelligence applications. AI-driven computational tools can help researchers predict how genetic and environmental factors contribute to disease, he said.
After joining JAX in 2021 from BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., where he served as chief science strategic officer, Cardon pushed the organization to expand work involving human stem-cell models.
The process uses human tissue — often skin cells — that are genetically reprogrammed into stem cells and then developed into neurons or organ-like tissue for research.
“It’s really good, because it has your DNA, so you can form predictions on that,” Cardon said.
He described JAX’s strategy as combining “the power of three” — human-cell studies, animal models and artificial intelligence — to improve disease research.
That strategy helped drive JAX’s acquisition last year of The New York Stem Cell Foundation, a nonprofit focused on stem-cell research.
Jodie Gillon, president and CEO of BioCT, a trade group for the state’s life sciences industry, said meetings with JAX officials after she took on her role three years ago led to the creation of the Rare Disease Forum, which held its third annual event in March.
“Jackson Laboratory is a world-renowned leading research institution revolutionizing genetic medicine in core therapeutic areas in addition to rare (diseases),” Gillon said in an email to Hartford Business Journal. “It was a huge win for Connecticut to land JAX in the state.”
Weathering the storm
JAX also faced uncertainty over the past year because of concerns surrounding federal research funding.
The organization relies heavily on federal grants, but also on selling its animal models for scientific research, which is how it subsidizes its own research.
When federal funding was threatened over the past year under the Trump administration, JAX faced a potential double hit, Cardon said, because organizations losing grants might also reduce purchases of the lab’s research tools.
“We weathered that storm,” he said. “We feel like this will be a rosy year.”
While its 2025 financial results have not yet been released, JAX saw single-digit revenue growth last year, Cardon said.
According to its 2024 financial statement, JAX reported $657.8 million in total revenue and $1.03 billion in net assets.
Cardon said recruiting scientific talent to Connecticut has not been difficult, citing the organization’s hiring two years ago of Mary Dickinson as executive vice president and chief scientific officer. Dickinson previously served as dean of research at the Baylor College of Medicine, a top-tier medical school in Houston, Texas.
Cardon said JAX also attracts talent from Boston, one of the nation’s largest bioscience hubs.
State Rep. David Yaccarino (R-North Haven), co-chair of the legislature’s bipartisan Bioscience Caucus, said the state invested more than $200 million in JAX, but he was unsure how much economic impact the lab has generated.
Still, he said the state benefits from having JAX in Farmington because it offers high-paying jobs.
“I don’t think Jackson Labs was ever going to be for spinoffs,” he said. “Everything was for research and development. I think (spinoffs) was overplayed in a way. I just think they still benefit that part of the state.”
Asked whether JAX has fulfilled the expectations tied to Connecticut’s investment, Cardon defended the organization’s impact.
“I don’t think it warrants an apology in any way, because the science is going fantastic,” he said. “ … So, we feel great about the site and the decision, and we’re very appreciative of the state support to get us there.”
