By The Honorable Bob Franks, President, HealthCare Institute of New Jersey
Bridgewater, NJ, March 26, 2007 —PhRMA , the biopharmaceutical industry’s national trade association, recently announced that America’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies set a new record for research spending last year — investing $55.2 billion to develop new medicines and vaccines. The study, conducted by Burrill & Company, also noted this investment is $3.4 billion higher than in 2005.
To put this in context, the spending by private biopharmaceutical companies on R&D is significantly greater than what the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends on R&D. It is also considerably higher than what other countries spend on R&D. Clearly, this recent report underscores that America continues to lead the world in the search for new cures.
With well over half of the world’s new medicines being developed by our country’s innovative pharmaceutical companies, it’s no wonder why the next wave of blockbuster drugs and breakthrough medicines will most likely come about as a result of the work of scientists, academicians, technicians and other health care professionals in the United States.
New Jersey has long distinguished itself as a leader in R&D activity. In 2005, HINJ member companies invested $7.5 billion in research and development activity, representing a 17 percent increase over the $6.4 billion reported the prior year. Increased research funding is the result of a more powerful and more precise attack against some of the complex and challenging diseases.
The results of this investment are reflected in the 900 new products in development and over 70 New Drug Applications submitted to the FDA. With more than 16, 000 scientists working here in New Jersey for the pharmaceutical industry, it is quite likely that the cure for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Cancer or HIV/AIDS may very well come from the Garden State.
New Jersey should also take pride in the leadership of its medical technology industry. These firms, which create medical instruments, devices and technology, have filed 131 new product applications with the FDA. They also had a total of 55 significant improvements to existing medical devices approved by the FDA in 2005.
Nationally, New Jersey ranks third in private research and development expenditures, and fourth in total public and private research and development expenditures.
So what does all this investment mean?
For New Jersey, it means that the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry’s growing investment in R&D helps drive the state’s economic engine. Through strategic alliances, partnerships and collaborations with contract manufacturers, academic institutions and others, New Jersey benefits economically through job creation, capital construction and increased revenue.
For patients, the investment in R&D means we are fundamentally changing the way we fight disease. Today more than 2,000 medicines are being researched and developed many of them in their final stages of the approval process to help overcome conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke. For cancer alone, there are currently 646 new medicines in the development pipeline.
This latest report on R&D is indeed good news. This revolution in medicine is giving patients and doctors new hope and new tools to fight dreaded diseases.