Capoten

Despite Sopranos references and "What's your exit?" jokes, New Jersey is a small state with some very big advantages. Once called "America the beautiful, only smaller:" by National Geographic, New Jersey is a state rich in history, culture, entertainment and industry.

Businesses have flocked to the Garden State (especially the Mercer County region) for its central location; highly educated work force; reliable, mass transportation system; and close proximity to the financial and media resources of New York City. Some of the state's fastest growing industries - pharmaceuticals/ biotechnology, information technology, chemical and electronics - are those driven by research and development to create the new, the improved and the innovative.

"Beginning with Thomas Alva Edison, New Jersey has more inventors per square mile than any other state in the nation," says Mario Casabona, chairman of the Research & Development Council of New Jersey. In fact, New Jersey ranks fourth in total U.S. patents and has produced 30 Nobel Prize winners. "We also have the highest concentration of scientists," he notes. "As Chairman of an association that supports and promotes research and development in New Jersey, I'm proud of New Jersey's achievements and of our well-deserved reputation as The Innovation State."

New Jersey ranks first in the nation in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. In 2001 alone, nearly $2.4 billion was spent here for research and development of new pharmaceuticals and medical technology, and in recent years nearly 40% of all new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, were created by New Jersey firms and associates. Fifteen of the largest drug companies in the world have established facilities in New Jersey, making the pharmaceutical industry the state's biggest employer.

With this rich pharmaceutical presence, it is no wonder that many important medical discoveries originated here. The anti-cancer drug, Interferon, anti-anxiety drugs such a Valium and Librium, the world's first test for Hepatitis C, antibiotics like streptomycin, Band-aid sterile bandages, Retin-A acne and wrinkle cream, Colgate's Total antibacterial toothpaste and most recently, Listerine PocketPak strips, to name just a few.

Numerous pharmaceutical breakthroughs were discovered and developed by Mercer County's Princeton-based Bristol-Myers Squibb. Among the most revolutionary are: Capoten, the first in a new class of ACE inhibitors and an important discovery in the treatment of medical discovery in the treating of hypertenstion; Videx, the second approved medicine for the treatment of HIV infection; Taxol (paclitaxel) Injection, one of the world's most widely used cancer treatments; and Pravachol for reducing the risk of heart attack in patients with elevated cholesterol or chronic heart disease.

In 1998, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Excedrin Migraine became the first migraine headache medication available to consumers without a prescription. BMS currently has a number of life-saving treatments in development for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis B, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other debilitating conditions.

Mercer County's Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, LP (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) develops and markets prescription pharmaceuticals for use in elder care, psychiatry, gastroenterology, pain management and dermatology. Some of Janssen's breakthrough products include: Duragesic, a strong medication delivered through a transdermal patch for moderate-to-severe chronic pain; Reminyl, a treatment for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease; Aciphex, for relief of heartburn caused by erosive GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and Sporanox capsules for the treatment of fungal nail infection and other mycoses.

Princeton University has also made impressive strides in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. A Princeton University researcher discovered a multi-targeted antifolate compound to treat patients with cancer. The compound, trademarked "Alimta", is currently in Phase III clinical trials and Eli Lilly is projected to file the NDA in August 2003. Princeton University researchers also developed a technology that enables discovery and validation of novel kinase drug targets and an imaging technology that utilizes polarized inert gases to enable doctors to view soft tissue (such as the lungs) in the body using conventional MRI equipment.

Another organization in the Mercer County area, FMC, develops biopolymers for pharmaceutical applications, but the majority of their work focuses on the development of proprietary compounds in the insecticide and herbicide arena. In November 2002, Dr. George Theodoridis was awarded the Thomas Alva Edison Award by the Research & Development Council of New Jersey for the discovery and patent for sulfentrazone, an herbicide that has been commercialized around the world for the control of weeds in soybeans, sugarcane, sorghum and other crops. FMC is also a leading supplier of bindings, coatings and disintegrants in tablets for drug delivery. FMC's products in this area include Avicel PH products for tableting, Aqua-Coat functional coatings for modifying the release of drugs from tablets, colloidal Avicel for stabilization of low fat foods such as salad dressings and pharmaceutical suspensions and LusterClear, an esthetic coating for the pharmaceutical industry.

In addition to pharmaceuticals, electronics and technology are also big business in New Jersey. The state is home to 476 electronics manufacturing facilities and ranks first in the research and development of electronics innovations overall. Some of the milestone "firsts" in electronics and products that now drive the American way of life had their origin right here. The television and the electronics that made cable television possible, the photocopier, the flight simulator, the weather satellite, FM radio, and the first transistor - a part of almost every electronic device and led to the invention of the silicon gate transistor, the power behind today's computers, all came about through the ingenuity of New Jersey inventors.

In fact, one in ten New Jersey residents, who work in the private sector, is employed by a high technology firm. Beginning with Oberlin Smith, a contemporary of Thomas Alva Edison's, who back in 1877, developed a reel-toreel magnetic recording system - the technology that paved the way for the development of the tape recorder, the telephone answering machine and the computer - New Jersey has proven a leader in the high tech field.

Mercer County's Sarnoff Corporation is most widely known for developing the first color television and the color picture tube, the basis for a system that is still in use today. But Sarnoff is responsible for a number of other innovations, as well. Some of the most notable include: CMOS transistor technology, used worldwide to manufacture the vast majority of integrated circuits; the color LCD display that made the laptop computer possible; next generation advanced digital high definition television (HDTV); Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells for solar energy; the Iris Recognition personal identification system to validate users of ATMs and the world's first disposable hearing aid.

Some of New Jersey's other high tech innovations include: the high speed modem; digital cellular technology; cell phones and the batteries that power them; the laser; the laser bar code scanner; the fax machine; the semi-conductor; DSL for high speed Internet access; and the silicon germanium thermoelectric power generator that made the Voyager Space Probe possible. And then, of course, there's a little invention called "the incandescent lamp" more commonly known as the electric light.

Thomas Alva Edison, the genius who discovered electricity, made New Jersey his home and his workplace for over 40 years. Edison was granted 1,093 patents during his lifetime, more than any other inventor. In addition to the electric light and the system by which it is generated, Edison invented the dry storage battery, the electric railway, the wireless transmission of messages, the motion picture camera and, his favorite - the phonograph.

"Edison didn't just invent machines: he invented entire industries," notes Casabona.

"But perhaps the greatest invention Edison left us is the first industrial research and development laboratory: The concept of research and development as an organized process with scientific apparatus, trained assistants, and plenty of patience, imagination, creativity and hard work. This was truly the beginning of research and development. And we can proudly say it all started in New Jersey."

Copyright Mercer County Chamber of Commerce Feb 01, 2003
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