N.J. needs to keep pace with growing biotechs

New Jersey still deserves its reputation as the nation's medicine chest, but better coordination is needed to maintain its stature now that biotechnology accounts for the bulk of innovation in the drug industry, a Rutgers professor said at a policy forum yesterday.

The Garden State has abundant strengths: an educated work force, a dense cluster of pharmaceutical firms, good universities and a growing biotech sector, David Finegold, dean of Rutgers' School of Management and Labor Relations, said.

"We have tremendous talent," said Finegold, who discussed the biotech industry's potential effect on economic growth at a talk in Trenton. "The human capital is here already."

But New Jersey can no longer take its pre-eminence for granted, he warned. The state's share of the nation's life sciences employment slipped to 13 percent, from 20 percent, over the past 20 years, and many drug companies are looking to shift operations to lower-cost regions overseas.

An antidote is to create a better environment for biotechs to take root and flourish, ensuring groundbreaking research - and the high-paying jobs associated with it - continues here, Finegold said. The Rutgers dean is trying to nurture that approach through the Bio-1 partnership, funded through a $5 million grant from the U.S. Labor Department.

The partnership, keyed to five counties in Central Jersey that surround Route 1, strives to forge alliances between industry, academia and government. Goals include tweaking the curriculum for grades K-12, stoking entrepreneurship, expanding internship opportunities and cementing global partnerships to boost New Jersey's biotech prowess.

"We're trying to put all the pieces in place," he said.

Finegold said he was dismayed to find some high schools in the state fail to offer advanced biology courses. And while Princeton University has a formidable research reputation, it does not have a business school - which means commercialization efforts for research could probably be improved through alliances with other institutions.

New Jersey, with its diverse population, can also benefit from burgeoning biotech centers outside the United States. The state is a natural location for U.S. headquarters for foreign drug companies, Finegold said, citing Bayer HealthCare's recent decision to relocate its offices from Connecticut to Wayne.

Garden State companies can draw on strengths abroad, too. One example is PTC Therapeutics, a University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey spinoff in Piscataway.

Jeff May can be reached at jmay@starledger.com or (973) 392-4282.