There are 116 biotechnology companies in New Jersey today, making us the nation's fourth-largest center for the biotech industry. More than twenty of these companies are publicly held. In all, biotech companies occupy over 3 million square feet of space in New Jersey and employ nearly 6,000 people. Biotech firms find New Jersey an attractive location for various reasons.
New Jersey has an abundance of scientists, engineers and research institutions.
Home to some of the world's leading biotech venture capitalists and within close proximity to Wall Street, New Jersey is fertile land for cash-starved biotechs. New Jersey research centers and universities devote considerable resources to the field of pharmaceuticals, medicine, and the biological sciences. These include the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and the Center for Molecular Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, the Waksman Institute at Rutgers University, and the Center for Biomedical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. A highly skilled workforce is also an outgrowth of New Jersey's universities providing a continual supply of quality labor for biotech firms in the state. There are now nine New Jersey multi-product biotech companies.