News from Delaware BioScience Association

Medical research: What the doctor ordered for Delaware's economy
By Adam Zewe
Community News
Apr 01, 2009

Wilmington, Del. - The First State's medical research companies are vital arteries pumping billions of dollars into the local economy, according to a study produced by two University of Delaware professors.

The biopharmaceuticals industry contributed $4 billion to Delaware's economic output last year, said the study, which was conducted by Edward Ratledge and Simon Condliffe of the university's Center for Applied Demography and Survey Research.

The state's 247 biopharmaceutical firms, most of which are concentrated in New Castle County, employed 12,000 people and paid $1.6 billion in wages last year, said the study, which was released on March 31. An additional 16,000 people are employed in industries that support Delaware's medical research companies.

"While Delaware is small, the biopharmaceutical industry's share of Delaware's jobs and wages is the sixth largest in the United States," said Condliffe.

Eighty percent of the nation's pharmaceutical companies are located within 75 miles of Delaware and that high concentration of nearby firms makes the First State a hotbed for medical research, said Bob Dayton, president of the Delaware Bioscience Association.

The economic impacts of medical research companies cannot be denied, he said, but even more significant are the companies' medical innovations.

"There are new treatments, new diagnostics and the potential for new cures," he said. "It's a compelling place to work."

There is a highly educated workforce in Delaware and foreign biopharmaceutical companies looking to expand into
America often choose the First State because of its workers, Dayton said.

Because they demand highly educated workers, biopharmaceutical companies create jobs that pay high wages; the average Delaware biopharmaceutical salary is $132,000, almost triple the state average, the study said.

And those high salaries have continued to grow at a pace of 22.8 percent over the past five years, almost 8 percent faster than the wages of Delaware's other industries.

"The overall outlook for this industry, both locally and nationally, is positive, and employment is expected to grow steadily over the next 20 years," said Condliffe.

The industry is expected to add more than 120,000 jobs nationwide between now and 2016, despite the economic downturn. Chemical manufacturing firms in Delaware are expected to increase employment by 13 percent between 2010 and 2030, the study said.

To protect and foster those medical research jobs, 50 business, labor, academic and healthcare groups have formed a partnership called We Work for Health of Delaware, part of a nationwide initiative.

The group wants to spread the word among decision makers and the public about the contributions of the biopharmaceutical industry.

"Obviously, the important work being done in Delaware benefits patients everywhere," said Ed Belkin, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing Association of America.

The state's biopharmaceutical companies make it a leader in innovation and ensuring those firms grow will only benefit Delaware's economy, he said.

State agencies need to work closely with biopharmaceutical companies that are expanding in Delaware, Dayton said, and the state could always improve the incentives it offers to medical research companies.

The pharmaceutical industry is as vulnerable as any other industry to the economic avalanche rolling over Wall Street, but through partnerships small bioscience firms will have a better chance surviving, he said.

CLICK HERE to view the study.

BY THE NUMBERS

Delaware's pharmaceutical companies contribute:

$4 billion dollars

12,000 direct jobs

$1.6 billion in wages generating $74 million in state income taxes

$9.5 million in corporate income taxes

$7.5 million in property taxes

$435 million in employee benefits