Biotech has never quite taken flight in Northern Virginia. Whether that's due to the lack of a big corporate anchor or blue-chip research university, the dearth of wet labs, the attraction of a stronger scene in Montgomery County or pure dumb happenstance is anyone's guess.
But on this side of the D.C. suburbs, the life sciences are not thriving. The story of Virginia biotech right now has much more to do with Charlottesville than it does with Fairfax.