Politics on the Hudson

   Despite the recession, pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies have continued to thrive grow across New York, according to a study released today by PhRMAharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) and the New York Biotechnology Association, a trade group. Archstone Consulting did the study.

   Biopharmaceutical companies supported 215,719 New York jobs in 2006—55,446 were directly in the sector and another 160,283 were in others. Annual employment growth was 1.8 percent in the biopharmaceutical sector between 1996 and 2006, compared with 0.8 percent in the rest of the economy, the report said.

   New York City, Westchester County and Rockland County combined had more than 43,000 workers in director and indirect pharmaceutical employment, Archstone found. Their economic output totaled nearly $10 billion.

   “This report shows how important the biopharmaceutical industry can be to New York’s future economic development,” Kenneth Adams, president and CEO of the state Business Council, said in a statement. “New York is well positioned to see this industry grow and flourish, given the state’s first-rate universities and workforce.”

    The state stands out when it comes to active clinical trials and new drugs being developed, the report found. More than 5,000 of 21,795 trials across the country last year were in New York. About 150 of 861 new medicines being developed for cancer are in New York. More than 200 treatments for a variety of other conditions are being developed by companies with operations in the state.

   “New York gets it. Science drives innovation and science drives the economy,” said Ken Johnson, a senior vice president with PhRMA.